CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Finding something underwater in Charlotte-area lakes is like finding a needle in a haystack.
“Where we dive around here, visibility is very limited,” said Charlotte Fire Captain Chad Michael. “It can be from no visibility to a few feet.”
Charlotte Fire Department’s four SONAR systems find those needs. During a demonstration Saturday, search teams said this summer has been the busiest for drownings in recent memory. Officials showed NBC Charlotte how the technology that’s been put to use so much since Memorial Day works.
The fire boat has a number of navigational tools on it. Not only does it have forward-looking infrared for night searches, but it has the hummingbird SONAR, GPS navigation and more specific SONAR in the back.
That specific SONAR is called “Side Scan,” and is the first to go in the water. It tows behind the boat in a grid search.
“You can zoom in on it, to see what it looks like,” said dive team member Kathleen Lee. “And what we try to do is utilize that and move it as close as possible to the object or the victim.”
Once firefighters see something on the screen, a diver can go in the water. Or, the more specific-but-stationary Kongberg SONAR can be set in the water for a better look.
“We can get more detailed images sitting in one place than we can [while] moving,” Michael said.
It’s a grim search, but the technology does in minutes or hours what used to take days, and often a dozen or more divers.
“All of this equipment helps us with timing and safety and efficiency,” Lee said. “It’s really important for the family to do so in a timely manner. It’s really important for us to do it safely as possible.”
