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After three drownings, county praised dive team and staff seek sonar, suits and other gear
Summary
Officials described three recent drownings in Troup County and credited the newly formed dive team for recoveries; staff asked commissioners to approve buying an AquaEye handheld sonar for $5,995 and requested roughly $10,000 more for generators, lights, spare cylinders and reinforced wet suits.
Zach Steele (introduced to the commission) reviewed three recent drowning incidents in Troup County that occurred within about three weeks. He gave incident details: a 22‑year‑old recovered after roughly 55 minutes in about 5.9 feet of water; a 21‑year‑old recovered from 19 feet after an 8‑minute dive search; and a 32‑year‑old recovered from about 22 feet after a roughly 49‑minute search. "One commonality between the 12 of these is life jackets were never used in any of these," Steele said, urging public education on life‑jacket use.
Steele described how the county's dive team, working with Columbus dive teams, DNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has provided quicker on‑scene resources than out‑of‑town teams. He presented procurement details: a request to purchase an AquaEye handheld sonar for $5,995 from FireLine (three identical quotes obtained) and an additional request for about $10,000 to buy generator lights, knives, dive lights, buoys, spare cylinders and reinforced wet suits. Steele described training plans, replacement of worn suits with reinforced models for operational use, and using existing suits as training gear. The transcript records the presentation of these requests; no formal vote or purchase authorization appears in the recorded discussion.
