GARDEN CITY, Utah (AP) - After three Bear Lake deaths in five years, a group of Rich County citizens says the region needs its own underwater dive team.

Currently, the county draws on the Utah Department of Public Safety's dive team. Its leader, Capt. Doug McCleve, said it takes the group two hours or more to arrive at Bear Lake.

A local team could drastically cut that time and increase the chance of saving lives after drowning, said Mike Leonhardt, Garden City councilman. "We could be in the water in 20 minutes," he said.

With a $20,000 grant from Garden City, Leonhardt and six other men formed the nonprofit Bear Lake Underwater Dive Team Association to help protect the more than half a million tourists that visit Bear Lake each summer.

Leonhardt said the community has a responsibility to provide these rescue services. Just over the border in Idaho, Bear Lake County already has its own dive team.

But Rich County commissioners aren't sold on the idea, citing concerns about the men's safety, the cost of the program and the slim chance of saving a life.

Commissioner Bill Cox said it's hard to justify spending thousands of dollars on diving equipment and certification for volunteers on a yearly basis when volunteers have a high turnover and drownings are rare. A number of other Utah counties have dive teams, including Weber, Salt Lake, Utah, Wasatch, Washington and Box Elder.

Local dive teams usually do body recovery as opposed to rescues, said Bobby Christensen, owner of Dive Utah in Ogden and former member of the Weber County dive team. By the time divers get their equipment on, they'd have to start out right on scene to save a life, he said.

But there are some exceptions.

Usually a person is brain dead within six to eight minutes of losing consciousness under water, said Breck Rushton, emergency department nursing manager at Logan Regional Hospital. However, in cold, icy water, people's organs and body functions slow down and some have been revived as long 80 minutes after going under.

Leonhardt acknowledged that the chances of saving someone are slim, but the quick response will help family members know that at least someone is trying.

Garden City Mayor Ken Hansen supports the idea of a dive team in the area. But, when the dive team lost county support, he and the City Council refused to sponsor the team due to concerns about liability.

Hansen told the team if they didn't find an entity to house the team, or file to become an independent group, they would have to liquidate their equipment and refund the $20,000 to Garden City.

The divers now have created a nonprofit organization registered in Utah and Idaho. That status will let the group apply for grants and lead fundraisers to help pay the costs of training and equipment. It also gives them independence to help out anywhere they're called, which might be outside of Rich County.

"It's up to the local sheriff in Rich County if he chooses to use our dive team," Leonhardt said. "He still has to call us. That's up to him. With the route we've chosen, we can go anywhere in Utah or Idaho to help with a dive situation."