FAIRMONT — The fire and rescue trucks in Gomsrud Park on Saturday morning caused a lot of motorists on Lair Road to slow down and gawk as regional first responders held an ice dive specialty training class in Budd Lake. Six volunteers from the Fairmont Fire Department joined 10 other divers from the South Central Rescue Team, Blue Earth County Sheriff Department and LeSueur County Sheriff Department in a drill called underwater overhead environment ice diving.

The divers were wearing layers of protective cold water gear but admitted the exercise was chilly at times. Lake temperatures in southern Minnesota normally are in the 40- to 45-degree temperature range this time of year.

Jamie Nelsen of Trimont, dive team leader of the South Central Volunteer Underwater Search and Rescue and coordinator of the drill, said diving under an ice-covered lake or river can be extremely stressful, but the training sessions help divers become more comfortable in unique situations. This drill was specific to victim recovery and victim rescue.

“We do this training every year, sometimes two or three times a year,” he said.

The teams chopped a large hole in the ice near the shoreline, and volunteers on land grasped tether lines to the divers in the water as a safety precaution.

“There’s no visibility down there so we don’t want them to go too far from the hole,” Nelsen explained.

The divers’ frequent training classes help them prepare for distortions that occur during deeper dives.

“Once you get underwater, everything looks 25 times larger,” Nelsen said. “It’s like swimming in a huge auditorium.”

As a veteran diver with more than 20 years of experience, Nelsen has been on numerous rescue and recovery missions, “more than I ever cared to,” he said.

He noted that the team from Blue Earth County had to leave the drill early because they had been called into service in their home area.