Ocean City Fire Department adds new rescue boat

The Ocean City Fire Department was busy training on a new boat designed for rescues in shallow areas along the bay.

But the recent training session quickly turned into official lifesaving duty, underscoring the need for such a boat.

“We assisted three people on a boat that got caught on a sandbar,” Fire Chief Bernie Walker said in an interview with OCNJDaily.com. “So, it had its first official rescue last week. It will definitely be used quite a bit.”

It’s called Marine-1 and it’s the latest piece of equipment purchased by the city to help the fire department keep residents and tourists safe.

The new boat is a Yamaha G-3 Gator Tough 17. It is made of aluminum and is lightweight. Funding for the $24,000 boat came from the city’s capital budget, Walker said.

The boat arrived in June and has been modified to make it better for rescues, he noted.

“It is designed for the back bay and to be a rescue boat for shallow water. It will assist us greatly to gain access to people in the bay area on the west side of the island,” Walker said.

Prior to Marine-1, the fire department was using a 1996 Rigid Hull inflatable 13-foot boat for rescues in shallow water.   The new boat is docked at the Ocean City Bayside Center.While the smaller boat served its purpose, there were limitations to it, Walker explained.

“We were unable to lay a person down in the boat. If someone is having a cardiac event and we need to perform CPR on them, we need the room to lie them down and tend to them immediately,” he said, emphasizing that the new boat will allow for such room.

In addition, the new boat will help with response times.

“For a jet ski or a boating accident, the new boat will enhance our operational response capabilities,” Walker said. “In the past, we’ve had jet skiers and people on boats go into shallow channels and get stuck or have a medical emergency. It was hard to get out of there in the shallow waters."

Walker said that there are several boats already in the water from other agencies that are ready to help during emergencies. The fire department’s new boat will enhance the emergency response.

“There are a lot of marine assets in there,” he said of the police department, State Police and the Coast Guard boats. “They do a great job. We just want to have an even better response in the area.”

He added that the fire department and Ocean City Beach Patrol also use jet skis to make rescues.

“The new boat just enhances our capabilities,” he said.

The goal is to train all 67 firefighters on operating the new boat. They are all trained on the former fire department boat, Walker said.    A local company customized the boat to fit a gurney.The new boat is docked at the Ocean City Bayside Center at 5th Street and Bay Avenue along with a fire department jet ski. The department also has jet skis at the fire department headquarters at 550 Asbury Ave. and Station 3 at 45th Street and West Avenue.

Walker credited the city for “always supporting the department” in its goal of keeping the residents and visitors safe.

“This is a continuation of the city administration putting the priority of public safety first and giving the department the tools to provide the best possible service to the residents and the visitors in the community,” Walker said.

Fire Department Battalion Chief John Quigley has been in charge of water rescue for seven years.

Walker credits Quigley and his team with helping to select the type of new boat, which is commonly used for hunting and fishing.

“I had a lot of the input from the other firefighters,” Quigley said in an interview. “We chose the layout and the design.”

A local welding company, Coastal Welding, customized the boat to fit a Stokes basket, a gurney, inside the boat, Quigley said.

“It had all the fishing stuff on there. He had to cut all the stuff out to make it fit the gurney,” he said.

Quigley said he is grateful to the city for purchasing the new boat.

“I’ve been on many calls where it’s been needed,” he said. “This boat will be instrumental for getting to the marsh, especially medical emergencies when a boat is stuck.”

    The firefighters are training on the new boat. (Photo courtesy of the Ocean City Fire Department)