Berkeley Township Underwater Search and Rescue Unit Needs Help

Berkeley Township Underwater Search and Rescue (BTUSAR) Squad #86 pulled more than 200 people from their homes during Superstorm Sandy and now the non-profit organization finds itself asking the public for help, according to Assistant Chief Richard Zeller. 

The squad's air compressor needed to fill SCUBA tanks for its 45 active volunteers, no longer works.

"Sandy kind of put a real damper on our equipment. Basically, our expenditures have been a little more spendful," said Zeller. "With the amount of stuff that was in the water during Sandy, we had to get new wet suits and it just put a real damper on our funds. If we go out on a call and there is some kind of Hazmat situation or contaminants in the water, we can't reuse some of that equipment, so it basically has to be thrown out."

The squad has started a Gofundme account account to raise $4,500 needed to buy a refurbished air compressor, less than half the cost of a new one, according to Zeller.

"We have a company in Cliffwood Beach that is willing to sell us a compressor at a greatly reduced price. It has been completely refurbished," he said. The squad has until June 15 to raise the funds, according to Zeller.

An air compressor takes regular air and compresses it to a higher pressure, so it can fit into a storage tank to allow divers to have up to an hour of breathing time underwater, according to Zeller.

Berkeley Township provides an annual stipend of about $10,000 to the squad, but Zeller said they've had to spend the money on new wet suits, utilities and other costs.

"We go in when the firemen and police department don't go. We don't catch criminals, we don't fight fires, but in a beach town that is right on the ocean, if there is something to do with that, that's where we come in," said Zeller.

BTUSAR also performs ice rescues, and is a certified National Association of Police Divers group, with eleven on staff, including commercial divers that respond when a car or boat sinks, and three Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT's).

Donations can be made online, through the squad's Gofundme site, dropped off at BTUSAR's building at 10 Station Road in the Bayville section of Berkeley Township, or mailed to that location.

Since launching the fundraising campaign last week, the squad had received $390 dollars so far.