Here’s something you don’t see very often: A fire department rescue boat sank during a training exercise in the Chesapeake and the crew had to be rescued themselves.
All four people on board, who were wearing life jackets and survival suits, were back on duty that evening. The Anne Arundel County Fire Department says they don’t know why their boat sank. It was refloated a few days later.
The problem started when Fire Department Boat #1, based in Shady Side, Maryland, started to take on water off Gibson Island and the crew had to abandon ship. The Coast Guard and TowBoatUS Annapolis-Baltimore saved the crew.
Salvage crews waited for a brief weather window to refloat the boat, a morning when there were low winds and slack tide. The fire boat was stuck stern down in the muddy bottom about 22 feet under water. The location was on a spot near Craighill Channel, within sight of the 1,095-foot Ever Forward container ship that’s been stuck there for more than two weeks.
A crew of six from twoTowBoatUS boats rigged the fire boat with air bags underwater. Once it surfaced, they added more airbags, and then towed it to more protected waters to pump it dry.
The Anne Arundel fire department thanked everyone involved for saving the crew, and said, “A thorough investigation will be conducted into the cause of the sinking.” Read more:
https://chesapeakebaymagazine.com/sunken-fire-boat-refloated-off-gibson-island/
