Two recent calls for service send units to Little Sarasota Bay locations
Although the Sarasota County Fire Department responders to calls for marine rescues often find the situations resolved when they arrive on the scenes — as The Sarasota News Leader has reported over past weeks — the number of such calls through June this year already makes up about 65% of the total for all of 2025.
That is based on data that the county’s Emergency Services Department has provided the News Leader.
For 2025, the total was 144 calls; through June, the figure was 94.
Thus far this year, April has proven to be the busiest month for marine rescue advisories, the data show. The tally is 20. Conversely, through the first six months of 2025, May had the highest figure: 22.
Most recently, the News Leader learned, the Fire Department responded to marine rescue calls on Midnight Pass Road on south Siesta Key and on Stickney Point Road, just east of the barrier island.
In the first incident, on July 10, the Fire Department received an alert at 5:45 p.m. about a watercraft that appeared to be in distress offshore of 8897 Midnight Pass Road, which is part of the Sunrise Cove Condominium and Vacation Rentals Complex; it fronts on Little Sarasota Bay.
The caller said that two people were out on a kayak as “[h]eavy inclement weather was moving into the area quickly.”
A crew using the utility vehicle that is part of the equipment of Fire Station 13 on Siesta Key observed a civilian boat bringing the two people “to safety,” the report added.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office assisted with that incident, the report noted.
The rescue unit from Fire Station 13, which was dispatched at 5:48 p.m., arrived on the scene at 5:57 p.m., the report said. After the circumstances indicated that it no longer was needed, the report made clear, that unit was put back in service at 6:09 p.m.
Strong storms were reported in parts of North County about the same time as the kayakers were having problems in Little Sarasota Bay. The National Weather Service office at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport recorded gusts between 29 mph and 60 mph from 5:55 p.m. to 6:22 p.m. that day, its data show. Those winds were mostly out of the south-southeast, though some of them were out of the southeast and one gust came from the south, the NWS noted.
The Stickney Point Road incident occurred on July 12 near the eastern base of the drawbridge over the Intracoastal Waterway/Little Sarasota Bay, on the south side of the bridge, that report said. The call, which came into 911 Dispatch at nearly 10 p.m., said that a vessel was taking on water between the north and south bridges to Siesta Key.
The alarm went out at 10:02 p.m., that report said.
The crew of Fire Boat 3, which responded to the call, located the vessel in mangroves on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway, the report noted. It “was in several inches of water, making it inaccessible” to the crew. However, the report continued, “Verbal contact was established with the occupants, who advised they were uninjured, the vessel was not taking on water, and no emergency existed.”
The report added, “The occupants walked the vessel to a deeper area,” where the fire boat crew was able to secure it “alongside in a hip tow.”
Then the fire boat towed the vessel without any problems to Safe Harbor Siesta Key Marina, the report said. The marina’s address is 1265 Old Stickney Point Road, which is west of the Intracoastal Waterway and south of the Stickney Point Road drawbridge, a map shows.
Fire Boat 3 returned to service at 10:55 p.m.
Eight days earlier — on July 4 — Fire Department personnel responded to a call about a person on a jet ski who appeared to be in need of rescue offshore of 5236 Siesta Cove Drive, which fronts on the Intracoastal Waterway.
Upon arrival at 1:50 p.m., that report said, the firefighters-medics learned that “all parties were taken via private boat with no medical needs,” so Fire Engine 2 and Fire Boat 3 returned to service.