No harm reported in either case
On both June 12 and June 14, Sarasota County Fire Department personnel were dispatched to Siesta Key in response to marine rescue calls, The Sarasota News Leader has learned. In neither case was anyone harmed, the resulting reports note.
On June 12, a 911 call came in at 7:07 p.m. about a swimmer who appeared to be in distress, that report says.
When firefighters-medics with Fire Station 11 — which is located at 2200 Stickney Point Road — arrived on the scene at 7:14 p.m., they “were approached by family members who pointed out the location of the supposed swimmer in distress,” the report continues.
After entering the water with personal flotation devices to assist the person in the Gulf, the report says, they found the person in thigh-high water. That person denied “being in any form of distress and [claimed] that she [was] just swimming,” the report adds.
The woman then returned to the shore, accompanied by the crew members, the report notes.
The woman “was alert and oriented. No physical signs of trauma were present,” the report points out, and the woman denied having any injuries. She also refused an emergency medical services evaluation, the report adds.
All Emergency Services personnel had cleared the scene as of 7:58 p.m., the report notes.
That incident occurred at 1129 Seaside Drive, the report says. That is the address for the Sea Crest on Siesta Key complex; it is located off Midnight Pass Road on Crescent Beach, on the southern portion of Siesta Key, a map shows.
The second recent marine rescue call, which was received at 3:20 p.m. on June 14, involved a missing child on Siesta Public Beach.
In that situation, firefighters-medics were dispatched from Fire Station 13 on Siesta Key, as well as Fire Station 3 on Adams Drive in Sarasota and Fire Station 8, which stands at 840 Apex Road in Sarasota.
Upon arrival on the scene, that Fire Department report says, the crew members spoke with the grandmother of the missing child, who explained that the girl is 11 and had been missing for approximately an hour.
A note in one portion of the report says that Fire Boat 3 was called to the scene, as well, because the child last had been spotted in the Gulf. The boat crew undertook a shoreline search in the affected area, including the portion of the Gulf where the child might have drifted, the report adds.
The grandmother told firefighters-medics that she “lost sight of the [child] while [the child] was playing near the shoreline,” the report points out.
“A search was conducted utilizing multiple assets,” the report continues. The girl was found “a short time later playing in the sand just south of her original location,” the report adds.
The girl “was reunited with her grandmother,” the report says.
The last Fire Department unit cleared the scene about 4:11 p.m., the report notes.