About Blackwater SCUBA and Water Rescue
Steve, Monica, Cash and Tate Treinish in Steve's beloved Keys.
Hi, my name is Steve Treinish, and I formed Blackwater SCUBA to provide quality training for Public Safety Divers in and around Ohio.
The lack of standards and continuity in training and equipment can hazardous for divers, as can the idea of recreational instructors
teaching blackwater techniques. Many recreational SCUBA instructors will teach a basic search and recovery class, and many divers
will enter true blackwater with that card to fall back on. The problem is, that class is meant to train divers to recover items in
friendly water, with visibility. True no-visibility diving can be a very dangerous and complicated dive, and should undertaken
with certain precautions, training, and equipment to safely send a diver home each time they enter the water. This led to other disciplines
such as boat operations, surface rescue, swiftwater rescue, etc. Our goal is fire service based, safe, realistic training meeting
the NFPA 1006 standards. Oh yeah, it has to be realistic! I will never place a class in conditions they will not see in the real world.
Meaning, no swiftwater classes in droughts, and if divers are learning while it is 5 degrees, then so be it. You will fight like you
train!
I work for the Columbus, OH, Fire Department, assigned to Ladder 2 downtown, home of the "Bulldogs". I am the lead instructor for
the Dive and Rescue Team there, and also instruct in Ice and River rescue. I also lead the Fairfield County Special Operations Dive
Unit, and am a PSDA Instructor, IDEA Instructor, and a member of the IADRS. I am priviledged to work with the State of Ohio Water
Tactical Advisory Commitee. I have 17 years of Water Rescue experience, beginning on Buckeye Lake, with the Millersport Fire Department,and
consider water rescue my "niche" in the fire service. This has even gotten me into writing, with a textbook out through Cengage Learning.
Yep, that is Tate, gettin' it on in the backyard pool. Our best student yet, but Cash will be right on his fins this summer.
