BALTIMORE – The Coast Guard rescued one adult and four children that were stranded on a disabled vessel due to an engine fire in the Chesapeake Bay near Gibson Island, Md., Thursday afternoon.
The owner/operator of a 26-foot pleasure craft notified Coast Guard Sector Baltimore watchstanders via marine-band radio at 2:05 p.m. reporting his engine had been on fire.
A 41-foot utility boat crew from Coast Guard Station Curtis Bay, Md., and a volunteer Riviera Beach Fire Department boat crew were dispatched. The boat crew from Station Curtis Bay arrived on scene and located the disabled boat at 2:38 p.m. The Coast Guard crew transferred the five people to their boat meanwhile the fire department boat crew boarded the vessel to ensure the fire was out. Once the vessel was determined to be safe, the people were transferred back to their boat and the Coast Guard crew began towing the disabled boat and crew to Bodkin Creek Marina in Pasadena, Md. Towboat U.S. then met the crew and took over the tow due to water depth.
“He did everything that he needed to do,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Timothy A. Jacobs, a coxswain from Station Curtis Bay. “He used a marine-band radio, turned off the engine, secured the fuel source and moved the kids to the bow of the boat. This made the response easier with not having to search for the vessel and the fact that the people aboard remained calm.”
There were no reports of injuries.
The Coast Guard urges mariners to outfit their boat with a functioning marine-band radio, using channel 16 on a marine-band radio is the most reliable way to communicate a distress to search and rescue personnel in the event of an emergency while on the water.
