Dive Rite general manager was 33.
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Jared Hires, the general manager of Lake City-based Dive Rite, died Wednesday on a cave dive in Norway. He was 33. (COURTESY)
Jared Hires, the general manager of the Lake City-based diving equipment company Dive Rite, died tragically on a dive Wednesday in Norway.
Hires was 33 years old. He is survived by his parents, Lamar and LeeAnn, as well as his wife, Taylor, and two children.
“He loved this sport, the people, the industry — he was so proud to be a part of it,” Taylor Hires told X-Ray Mag.
According to NRK, a Norway news organization, Hires was on a dive at Plura Cave on Wednesday with eight others. During the dive, Hires was part of a three-person group, when he had a seizure underwater on their way back to the surface.
His fellow divers pulled Hires out and paramedics worked on him for an hour but he could not be revived.
“I must commend fellow divers and other personnel on site for their efforts,” Police Chief Alf Ulrike Stenberg Rokstad told NRK. “Unfortunately, his life was not saved.”
According to NRK, Hires’ group on the dive had stopped in a chamber to check their equipment. After determining it was OK, they resumed their return to surface when Hires was found to be unconscious.
NRK said the Plura Valley team had a defibrillator on scene within three minutes to help administer first aid.
The group was 20-30 meters down in the cave when the incident occurred, according to the Norway police.
Hires was featured on the front page of the Lake City Reporter three weeks ago as Dive Rite — started by his father Lamar Hires and friend Mark Leonard — celebrated its 40th anniversary.
The company, which is located in downtown Lake City on NE Washington Street, sells technical diving gear to more than 90 countries across the world and has 300 dealers in the U.S. and an additional 300 worldwide.
Hires began working for the company at an early age, helping apply stickers to products. At 14, he began officially working for Dive Rite, taking calls and helping with sales.
After college, Hires returned to the company in 2013.
Hires said last month that the company’s continued innovation comes from its close ties to diving. Most of the company’s 16 employees are divers and are encouraged to get in the water frequently.
“We’re constantly doing it,” he said.
Hires was also just named part of the Lake City Reporter’s 40 under 40 Young Business Professionals, which was released in today’s edition after being printed last week.
With the company, which is owned by Lamar and LeeAnn Hires, celebrating its 40th anniversary, Hires said last month that the goal was to duplicate that feat.
“Forty more to go, at least,’ he said before reconsidering with a laugh if he wanted to continue working that long. “Hopefully, the goal is to bring in the next generation.”