IUCRR

Who We Are

The IUCRR is an international all-volunteer, not-for-profit corporation registered in the State of Florida. (In the U.S., contributions to the IUCRR may be tax-deductible. Check with your tax accountant to be sure.)


Mission

The mission of the IUCRR (International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery) is to support all Public Safety Agencies, and work within their Incident Command System, in the rescue and/or recovery of victims in an underwater-overhead environment (environments partially or fully underwater with an overhead obstruction such as caves, caverns, mine shafts, etc., and include virtual overhead environments as well).

Simulated recovery operation photos
(photos courtesy of Wendell Nope)

Purpose

The all-volunteer IUCRR team consists of Regional Coordinators are trained to work within the Incident Command system to assist law enforcement agencies -- at their request -- with the rescue and/or recovery of divers who have entered an underwater overhead environment, and not returned within their allotted time. Each Regional Coordinator is responsible for maintaining a current list of qualified recovery divers in their area. These divers must be certified by a recognized cave diving organization to dive in underwater overhead environments, and attend an IUCRR course before being placed on the call-out list for rescues/recoveries. They must be qualified to dive in the environments involved before they are put to use by the law enforcement agencies.

History

The IUCRR was founded in 1999, but it's origins began at the 1982 NSS-CDS (National Speleological Society - Cave Diving Section) cave diving workshop, held in Branford, Florida. Henry Nicholson, a sheriff's department dive team leader recognized, and made the NSS-CDS aware of, the hazards facing public safety dive teams after a close call he and his team encountered. They faced incidents demanding a police response and found themselves in situations beyond their level of training and with inadequate technical equipment. Given this situation, the executive committee of the NSS-CDS authorized the organization of a cave diving recovery team to be made up of law enforcement officers who were cave divers, and to train other responsible cave divers to be made available for law-enforcement agencies affected by cave-diving-type accidents. They acknowledged the quality and credibility of such a recovery team and realized the importance of it being controlled by a law-enforcement agency.

To make available a qualified recovery team for local law-enforcement agencies and maintain a uniform procedure that was acceptable to each agency, the NSS-CDS requested the following:

• a program coordinator
• instruction seminar
• call-out list
• method for immediate response

The NACD (National Association of Cave Divers) also created an almost identical process, and the instruction seminar created was used by both cave diver certification agencies.

The team of divers grew successfully in numbers and expertise. All of its members were formally trained as rescue/recovery diver specialists. The team basically consisted of NSS-CDS and NACD divers.

In January 1999, the Board of Directors for the NSS-CDS and the NACD elected to remove the Rescue and Recovery Team from any one particular cave diving organization. They agreed that it should be established as a bipartisan program to be under the joint auspices of the NSS-CDS, the NACD, and other cave diving agencies, and the IUCRR was created. The intent of this move was to eliminate duplication, create harmony between the cave diving agencies, provide for a single-point-of-contact for Public Safety Agencies, have a single-point for consolidation of accident reports, and provide accident analysis services for the benefit of all underwater-overhead divers.

Organizational Overview

The IUCRR is governed by a Board of Directors and a Law Enforcement Oversight Board (LEOB). The Oversight Board consists of Law Enforcement Officers that are Certified Cave Divers and trained in the management of a rescue and/or recovery operation. The organization has a world-wide resource list of trained volunteer rescue/recovery divers. They are available by contacting the appropriate IUCRR Regional Coordinator listed on the Regional Coordinator List page.

Today the IUCRR routinely makes qualified recovery teams available to local law-enforcement agencies trained to work within their Incident Command System to maintain a uniform procedure that is acceptable to each agency.

The IUCRR has no paid members, and operates only through a contribution of time, effort and funds by it's membership, but does accept outside financial contributions. There are only two levels of membership: a volunteer, and a supporter. 100% of all volunteers are certified cave divers who have been vetted by the Board of Directors or a Regional Coordinator as capable of handling the task of managing a rescue/recovery of one or more divers in an underwater-overhead environment. Supporters voluntarily provide non-diving assets for the use of the IUCRR.

All IUCRR volunteers work with local law enforcement to provide any assistance, guidance and/or consultation that is requested for an underwater-overhead rescue/recovery operation. Local law enforcement is always in charge of the operation -- since in most cases it would be considered a crime scene -- and the IUCRR provides support when requested. IUCRR volunteers can help manage the rescue/recovery operation by coordinating with the on-site officer-in-charge, and are usually able to provide resources and expertise normally unavailable to most law-enforcement agencies.

If you are interested in joining the IUCRR as a volunteer, please click here to find out how. If you would like to financially support the IUCRR, please click here to find out how.