"It's like anything else; when you're needed, you're needed, but you hope that you're not," said Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue (NUSAR) Chief Mike McCarthy, describing the need for diving drills beneath the ice.

On February 18, NUSAR members slipped below frigid Lake Lillinonah's surface near the town boat launch at the end of Hanover Road. The ice was also covered by several inches of Saturday night's snowfall.

They dove in about 20 feet of water with three feet of visibility, Mr McCarthy said.

"Because of snow, we had about 3 inches of water on top of the ice - snow was pushing the ice shelf down," he said. Conditions below the surface were "fairly dark; we dive with lights on our masks."

Mr McCarthy said divers used an inflatable boat by the edge of a hole broken into the ice, "so we dove out of the boat and back into boat," a precaution if the ice "is bad," and divers "can't put too much weight on the ice." Divers put the inflatable to the edge of the hole "simulating bad ice, and we would need to spread our weight out." Divers can weigh in the "200-300-pound range when all geared up."

NUSAR members each season practice diving below the ice "in case we have to locate missing persons or things under the ice," Mr McCarthy said. "We currently have five certified ice divers, a specialty rating, and hopefully we will have three more by the end of the winter."

Drills require three divers and three or four surface people for a safe ice dive, he said. While one diver is underwater, another is 100 percent ready to go, and another is 90 percent ready to go. Surface people are in contact with the divers, and others are rope tending, he said.

"Divers are on voice communication. All divers can talk together," Mr McCarthy said. Part of their gear includes full-face masks with microphones and earphones.

Divers have to worry about equipment fails, he said.

"You can't go directly to the surface because you may be 100 feet from the entry hole," he said. "You may have to worry about a rip in the suit."

The dive team has emergency procedures if a diver gets disconnected. Should someone become disconnected from a safety line, for instance, "he stands upside down on the ice and the second diver goes out to approximately where first diver was and tries to locate and snag with his rope," Mr McCarthy said.

In recent years, NUSAR members have not needed to make an ice dive rescue. There was a drowning in Lake Lillinonah "with two vehicles in the water, and a few days later the ice came."

"We've been very fortunate to have done no ice dive rescues - never had to dive for a drowning victim or someone who has gone subsurface," Mr McCarthy said.

Naming a few scenarios where the ice dive team could be needed, Mr McCarthy said, "There are locations where drivers can end up in the lake. It could be ice fishermen, ice skaters, snow mobilers, or the interested public going out to see what the ice is like."

Twenty-five years ago, the cost to outfit two divers with dive suits and equipment cost about $8,700. The cost to outfit one diver today is about $12,000, according to Mr McCarthy. The town pays in part through the budget, but NUSAR pays for the rest through fundraising, he said.

Mr McCarthy has been with NUSAR since its founding in 1989. He is the last charter member to remain active with the organization.