Delaware Air Rescue Team performs water rescue demo in Dewey

The Delaware Air Rescue Team joined forces with several agencies to execute a complex water rescue demonstration in Dewey Beach Sept. 24, as part of the Delaware Volunteer Firefighters Association Conference.

DART, established in the mid-2000s as a collaboration between the Delaware State Police Aviation Section, the Delaware State Fire School and fire departments across the state, is a highly specialized helicopter rescue unit trained to respond to some of the region’s most complex emergencies.

“Year after year, the Delaware Air Rescue Team continues to expand its capabilities and deepen its commitment to protecting lives,” said team member Cliff Dempsey, a lieutenant at the Dewey Beach Police Department. “What began as an innovative idea has evolved into one of the state’s most versatile and effective emergency response units.”

The team works closely with Delaware State Police pilots and paramedics, comprising 14 active members from fire, EMS and law enforcement backgrounds who participate in frequent training and maintain annual certifications through Priority One Air Rescue.

Their training ensures readiness to respond to a wide range of rescue scenarios, from swift-water incidents and hurricane deployments to stranded boaters – or even a duck hunter trapped in a marsh on a frigid December night.

While many of their missions go unpublicized, the team is proud to be known as the quiet professionals, operating with precision and discretion to execute rapid, life-saving rescues.

Critical to DART’s success are its partnerships with Delaware’s first responder community. Volunteer fire companies statewide, the Wilmington Fire Department and the Delaware Natural Resources Police – who partnered with DART for the demonstration, along with the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company and the Delaware State Police Maritime Unit – play vital roles in the team’s operations.

“These collaborations strengthen interagency bonds and ensure seamless coordination during critical incidents,” Dempsey said.

The mock scenario began with a call to the Sussex County Communications Center reporting a vessel in distress in Rehoboth Bay with two injured occupants (or, in this case, training dummies): one ambulatory and one non-ambulatory in need of significant assistance. 

Upon receiving the alert, dispatchers paged DART, and several members immediately deployed to board the responding aircraft, a Bell 429 helicopter, which is equipped with advanced technology designed for specialized rescue missions.

Once airborne, DART members worked with the DSP crew to establish a rescue plan and prepare the appropriate equipment. After assessing the situation from the air, the team determined they had to execute a two-person rescue insertion onto the vessel.

Both rescue specialists – in this scenario, Dempsey and Cpl. Aidan Gause of DSP and Lewes Fire Department – deployed to the vessel, using a hoist system to descend from the aircraft. Upon reaching the boat, they quickly identified the non-ambulatory patient would need to be packaged into a Cascade Bag, or litter system, to ensure safe extraction.

Dempsey and Gause worked together to prepare and secure that patient, while Dempsey also secured the ambulatory patient in an AVED rescue sling. The latter patient was hoisted directly into the helicopter by an onboard DSP medic.

Once that individual was secured inside the aircraft, Gause and the non-ambulatory victim were lifted from the vessel together in the Cascade Bag in a second hoist. Instead of bringing them fully inside the aircraft, the helicopter hover-taxied with the two individuals secured externally. They were then flown directly to the shoreline, where emergency medical personnel and an awaiting ambulance at Delaware Seashore State Park received them.