Dan Lee is a local security contractor who has given thousands of hours to the Washoe County sheriff’s Hasty Team, specializing in water rescue and recovery.

For twenty-three years he was helicopter deployed and has jumped out of Bell helicopters, Hughes, Blackhawks, Jayhawks, and even the giant Chinook. He has saved dozens of lives and found and recovered the bodies of dozens more people.

Here are some highlights of Mr. Lee’s long career with the Hasty Team:

• Navigated the backcountry and spent the night in ten degrees below zero weather with someone who froze to death. The next morning, Mr. Lee dug up that person and carried them over miles of rugged terrain back to civilization.
• Jumped out of many rescue vessels in bad weather with four-foot swells, during the night, so he could swim to an uninhabited island to rescue hypothermic boaters.
• Involved in the deepest body recovery in freshwater ever recorded: 1,565 feet deep in Lake Tahoe.

He is a master scuba diver and has been decorated by the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department with the Distinguished Medal of Valor for those who have engaged in specific acts of bravery and has received the Medal of Valor twice. Mr. Lee will be sharing insights from his new book of underwater adventures called Heroes’ Treasure.