Paddleboarder in first case picked up by boat
In response to two June 17 calls for marine rescues on Siesta Key, Sarasota County Fire Department personnel once again found no one in distress, The Sarasota News Leader has learned from reports it received through public records requests.
In the first situation, the alarm went out just before 4:44 p.m. about a paddleboarder who appeared to be in a difficult situation offshore of a single-family home standing at 9393 Blind Pass Road, that report said.
Blind Pass Road is on the southernmost portion of the barrier island.
Firefighters-medics using Fire Station 13’s utility vehicle learned that the paddleboarder “was picked up by a passing boat and delivered to the shore,” the report explained. The crew members “met with the paddler,” it added; the woman “denied any medical issues …”
She explained that she had experienced trouble getting back to shore because of the surf conditions, but she never was in distress, the report pointed out.
Mote Marine Laboratory’s Beach Conditions report for Siesta Public Beach at 10:05 a.m. on June 17 said, as of that time, the wind was blowing 5 mph out of the south-southwest, with moderate surf intensity in the Gulf. However, the report did use the phrase “Wind Chop” to describe the surf conditions.
Both Engine 11, from the fire station located on Stickney Point Road and firefighters-medics with Fire Station 13’s rescue unit were dispatched just after 4:44 p.m., the report said. The engine and the EMS unit arrived on the scene at 4:53 p.m., it indicated.
The last unit cleared the scene at 4:58 p.m., the report noted.
In the second incident, for which the alarm went out just before 8:50 p.m., a swimmer was reported in distress offshore of 8900 Blind Pass Road, which is the address for part of the Fisherman’s Cove complex.
As firefighters-medics once again using Fire Station 13’s utility vehicle were heading to the scene, that report said, they learned that the person “had safely exited the water and was not in distress.”
When they arrived at the location, the report continued, they did find “a fisherman who ‘swam’ his fishing line out into the water.” The report noted, “He was never in distress.”
The rescue unit from Fire Station 11 and a battalion chief both responded to that call, the report showed, arriving respectively at 8:50 p.m. and 8:51 p.m. The last unit cleared the scene close to 9:08 p.m., the report said.