Fathom Tanks was founded in 2014 out of the necessity to prepare first responders for flood rescue and swift water incidents. 76% of all drownings involve a vehicle, but fewer than 5% of first responders have trained on a submerged vehicle in moving water. Changing rain patterns and widespread flooding means more deaths will occur unless emergency personnel get better training. This means using actual vehicles in real moving water.

Barton Bollfrass is a former US Navy EOD Diver (‘90-’94) who also worked in the film industry (‘96-’08). He saw a unique opportunity to change water training practices worldwide by combining hyper-realistic film set design with military-style water training. The result was a safer, more realistic training environment where operators could experience real pressure during training without the fear of injury or death.

“First-responders have publicly credited our simulation tanks for having saved lives on numerous occasions. I’m incredibly proud of what we have accomplished for our community and yours.”

– Barton Bollfrass, Founder