THE MID-MISSOURI
SEARCH AND RESCUE
DIVE TEAM

• 7/30/93   Residents in a 1/2 mile radius of the Phillips Petroleum Company's propane tank yard, located at 8722 South Broadway, were evacuated because of record flooding of the River Des Peres and the Mississippi River.  High water had caused 50 of 51 propane tanks to float loose from their cradles.  Each tank contained 32,000 gallons of liquid propane.
        The tanks were now being held in place by a 12" inch line secured to the ground by 4" clamps and off of the 12" inch lines were 8"inch lines going to five main tanks. These tanks had elctric valves located on the bottom without any gate or shutoff vales to isolate the tanks. These tanks were rising causing a seperation of the vavle to the pipe. The pipe and valve connections were under great stress due to the floating tanks. Propane would leak if the connection between the valve and tank broke and could cause a fire or explosion.
       Divers loosened bolts on the pipe flange that connected the 8" inch pipes together at the valve of each tank. This resulted in a "weak link" before the connection at the tank.
      Officials hoped that the line would break at this weak link and not at the tank. By breaking at the loosened flanges, the tank connection would remain intact and the propane would be contained. The Williamson Company (Red Adair) arrived on the scene and the team worked with the company to bring the incident under control. Water was being used out of the tank field and eventually being evaporated causing the water level to go down and stablizing the scene. No injuries in all of the twelve days were encountered and due to a Well established I.C.S. in place helped accomplish this task safely.





• Pictured left to right, Jim Daniels, Tim Tenison and Tony Follett with evidence recovered for the ATF and Franklin County Sheriffs office at Lake Serene near Pacific, Mo. Included in this find were 88 sticks of dynamite, 200 boosters, 200+ blastingcaps, detonation cord and a seismograph recorder.  The evidence recovered helped convict 3 youths and one adult.  Kids were molding the dynamite like clay and trying to set it off with firecrackers.  It took approx. 8 hours to make the recovery.




• 7/13/94    Divers recovered a 1994 Jeep Cherokee that had rolled down the Washington boat ramp into the Missouri River.
• 5/26/96   A 42 yr. old Siberian athlete, Semen Alecseev, took a three hour swim in the Missouri River to complete the first leg of his personal trifecta.  Alecseev plans similar long-distance swims in the Nile and the Amazon.  This swim was dedicated to the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
     Aleceev entered the Missouri River near Defiance, swam down river 18.125 miles and exited at Frontier Park in St. Charles.  His goal was to beat his personal distance record of 20.75 kilometers (about 13 miles).
     He had a 24-person escort in seven boats that was put together by Gary Schuchardt, head of the St. Charles County Emergency Management Agency's Office of Disaster Preparedness.  The escort consisted of Tim Tenison, the dive team commander, and four divers in a dive team boat, four boats from the EMA, a U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat, and a St. Charles Fire Department rescue boat
• 4/2/97    Divers were on stand-by to assist in searching for a boater missing in the Mississippi River near St. Charles County, Missouri.  No divers were put in the water because they could not pin-point the area where the accident happened.
• 4/21/97    Divers assisted the St. Charles Levee Association in cleaning a flapper type flood control valve.  Debris had been caught in the valve, preventing it from sealing and letting flood water from the Mississippi River into farm fields.
• 5/2/97    Divers assisted local fire and police departments and Water Patrol Officers in a surface search for a man that was seem jumping from the Daniel Boone Bridge where it crosses the Missouri River.
• 6/1/97    Divers responded to a private lake near Wright City, Missouri.  Three young men had been in a canoe when it overturned about 1am.  Two were able to make it to shore.  Divers recovered the 17yr. old victim in about eighteen feet of water.
• 6/15/97    Divers, firefighters and Water Patrol Officers searched for the owner of a boat that was found drifting on a 60 acre lake near St. Clair, Missouri.
• 6/24/97    Divers recovered the body of a Hillsboro man who drowned in a private lake near Highway B in Jefferson County, Missouri.
• 6/25-27/97   Divers, High Ridge fire-fighters and Water Patrol officers searched the Big River near Cedar Hill, Missouri looking a 13yr old boy that had slipped while walking along the bank.  A search and rescue dog helped locate the victim on 6/27/97
• 7/4/97    Divers recovered a truck that rolled down a boat ramp at Meramec State Park.
• 7/5-6/97    Divers were called to assist local fire-fighters and Water patrol officers in searching for a 22yr. old man missing in the Meramec River near Meramec Caverns.  The victim was recovered on 7/6/97.
• 7/11/97    Divers were called to recover an occupied vehicle from the Meramec River near Robertsville State Park.  The 54yr old woman was removed before divers arrived.  Divers recovered the vehicle.
• 8/5/97    Team members, Water Patrol Officers, Franklin County Sherriffs Officers and TV Station Channel 30 took part in filmimg a short clip on Water Safety on the Meramec and Bourbouse rivers near Mosselle, Missouri.  The clip showed a divers under water view while conducting a search in low visibility situations.  Tips were given on what to do if caught in the fast current of a river while swimming and how to rescue someone caught in swift water.  It was seen on Channel 30 news at 5 & 10 pm.
• 8/13/97    Divers and the Sullivan Fire Department searched for a man that was last seen diving into the river near the Campbell Bridge on highway N near Bourbon, Missouri.  The victim was recovered that evening.
• 8/24/97    Divers and members of the Gerald-Rosebud Fire Department participated in a training exercise at the Lost Valley Lakes Resort near Gerald, Missouri.  The exercise included training on how to handle a search for a missing person, how to question witnesses in order to locate the area where the victim was last seen and how to handle the spectators that may gather in the area.
• 3/17/98    Divers recovered the body of a 37yr. old O'Fallon woman and her car. The car slid off the pavement and into a drainage lagoon near the intersection of Earth City Expressway and Rider Trail in St. Louis County. The accident occured at about 3am.

• 3/27/98    Divers assisted local police and state water patrol officers in conducting a surface search for the body of murder victim.  The 15 year old male had been stabbed to death and dumped into the Meramec River near Alorton, Missouri.

• 4/2/98    Divers recovered a pickup truck that had been driven into a lake. The driver and passenger escaped without injuries.

• 4/4/98    Divers assisted the St. Charles Levee Assocation in cleaning debris from around a flood control gate.  The gate is part of the flood wall system for the Mississippi River in St. Charles, Missouri.

• 8/19/98    Divers searched for a small hand gun that had been reported to have been disposed of in a private lake in St. Francis County.

• 8/21/98    Divers recovered a submerged vehicle for the Pacific Police Department.

• 8/22/98    Divers assisted St. Charles County Fire Department and the State Water Patrol in searching for the body of a forty-one year old male. The victim was last seen having problems in a swimming area near the Golden Eagle Ferry, on the Mississippi River in St. Charles County.

    It was reported that the victim was able to save his eleven year-old daughter that was also having problems in the deep water.

• 10/19/98    Divers assisted the Public Water District #2 of Jefferson County, Mo.  Team members dove the Big River to clear three 18" diameter intake pipes that had been blocked by a fallen tree and fencing. Water pressure for homes , businesses and fire suppression in the area was low as a result of the blockage.   Divers used the services of a local wrecker service to remove the 18" diameter, 70' long tree.

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