MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — A new public safety office in Baldwin County is getting to work.
Starting back in October, the Baldwin County Public Safety Dive Team officially started operations, and on Friday, they were called into action to help a local business recover two valuable pieces of equipment.
"He was out there on the boat as we searched and helped us with moving equipment," Lt. Brandon Towe with the dive team command team said of the business owner.
His company helps build docks, and they typically attach a piece of equipment called a spud to their boat. It's a 30-foot piece of metal that weighs close to 1,000 pounds, Towe said. But on Friday, one of the spuds hit the bottom of Lake Sinclair, sending it to the bottom of the lake.
"At that point, it messed up his boat, so he had to drop the other one to prevent from capsizing the boat," Towe said.
In total, the business owner says the two pieces of equipment were each worth $10,000, which meant $20,000 was sitting at the bottom of the lake.
The business owner thought it would be an easy recovery, but it turned out to be a little more complicated. After multiple days of searching, a sonar helped the dive team locate the two spuds on Wednesday, laying the foundations for their removal. It was on the bottom of the lake and roughly 40 feet under the water.
"[The business owner] was very excited," Towe said "Every day he can't use it, he not only loses the value of it... he's also losing money by not being able to operate the boat he uses to make money."
Originally, they had used a big magnet attached to a rope to search, but it hadn't been able to connect to the spud. But after they used the sonar, they were able to identify the "target," Towe said.
While the Baldwin dive team wouldn't typically take a case like this, Towe said they took this job for a number of reasons. For starters, it was good practice — for a good cause.
"Firstly, we took it to help out a local business; that's a lot of money to lose at the bottom of the lake," Towe said. "But also, as a relatively new team, it was a wonderful training opportunity to do some deep water searching as the summer approach."
Back in 2022, five people died on Lake Sinclair. When the weather gets better, more people go missing or drown. So if they are called into action, Towe hopes the skills they practiced in this search will serve them well.
"Hopefully we're not needed this summer, but it's good practice in case we're needed," Towe said.
Also on the team's command team is Towe's brother, Bradley Towe. He's the lead fire investigator for the fire department while Brandon works with the sheriff's office. The dive team is a collaboration between the fire department and the sheriff's office.
When asked about working with his brother, he said it's gone well.
"We work well together," Towe said.