BOISE COUNTY, Idaho — A deadly crash along Arrowrock Road last month is fueling a push in Boise County to build a dedicated dive team closer to home.
When vehicles and people end up in the water, first responders say they do not always have the resources to properly respond, which is something they hope to soon change.
WATCH: Boise County Sheriff discusses why a dive team is needed
The Idaho outdoors can turn dangerous fast. Along Arrowrock Road in the Boise National Forest, first responders say the same water and backcountry that draw people in can also make emergencies harder to handle, and not every search and rescue has a positive outcome.
When those situations happen, the Ada County Sheriff's Dive Team gets a call.
"So we, uh, we specialize in recovery. So yes, the victim is typically deceased, uh, or we will search for evidence as well as, um, any type of public safety things. We'll get that removed as well," Sgt. James Pickard said.
Pickard told me the recent call where they came out to recover a Star father and young child was hard on his team.
READ MORE | Star man and juvenile killed in Boise County crash
"It, it, I mean, it affected my people, too. I mean it. Yeah," Boise County Sheriff Scott Turner trailed off.
Turner says that the March crash helped spark this push to begin a Boise County dive team of its own.
“Typically, we use [the] Ada County Sheriff's dive team, who are great. However, they are getting just as busy as we are. They're seeing an increase in calls, and that resource isn't always available to us,” Turner said.
As of publication, Boise County's GoFundMe to raise money for a dive team has raised almost $3K of its $50K goal.
The sheriff says Boise County has gone from averaging about 3,300 calls a year in 2020 to around 10,000 now. What used to be a handful of search and rescue calls each year is now happening almost weekly.
"Prior to 2020, we would probably see maybe a half a dozen to 10 search and rescues a year, most of those in the wintertime or during hunting season, and now we're almost weekly on search and rescues," Turner said.
