Incident reported just before 7:30 p.m. on March 14
Shortly before 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, Sarasota County Fire Department personnel were alerted to a call saying that a person in the Gulf offshore of the yellow lifeguard stand on Siesta Public Beach was “yelling and screaming for help,” as the official report described the situation.
Yet, after 30 minutes of searching by first responders in three boats over an area of 1 mile — with each vessel making three passes along the shoreline, the Fire Department report pointed out — no victim was found.
Fire Department members on one of the department’s boats also used side-scan radar equipment, with no success, the report indicated.
Firefighters/medics with Engine 13 from the Siesta Key Fire Station, with the assistance of a battalion commander and personnel with another rescue unit, “began scanning the area where the caller advised they saw someone in distress,” the report also explained.
Personnel with Fire Station 13 were dispatched at 7:19 p.m. on March 14, the report said; Engine 13 was enroute to the beach by 7:21 p.m., the report showed, but it did not arrive until 7:27 p.m. (March typically is the busiest month at the public beach, especially, and on the barrier island in general, which entails more traffic, long-time residents routinely point out.)
Members of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, including those aboard one of the agency’s marine units, plus the Air 2 helicopter and the operator of a drone, joined the Venice Police Department marine unit during the search, the report continued.
Personnel with the marine units did note “multiple crab traps in the area,” the report added.
Further, it said, “Deputies on [the] scene interviewed the caller,” who told them that someone in the water was “waving their arms and calling for help past the buoy in front of the yellow [lifeguard] stand” on the public beach. Yet, the deputies found no other bystanders who had seen the individual in the Gulf, the report pointed out.
Moreover, it said, the Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it had received no alerts about persons missing from the beach.
The battalion chief ordered a 30-minute search of the area, which the marine, air and land units completed, the report continued. Finally, with no one in distress located in the Gulf, the report said, the battalion chief cleared all of the responding units for departure.
The last unit left about 9 p.m., the report pointed out.
Although The Sarasota News Leader was unable to learn of the Gulf conditions that evening, it did read a Mote Marine Laboratory Beach Conditions report for Siesta Public Beach that said sunset on March 14 did not occur until 7:38 p.m.
Among the conditions observed just after 1:30 p.m. the same day were a wind speed of 5.99 mph with no rip currents. The beach conditions report did add that the surf was no higher than 1 foot.
Finally, the report said that the surface water temperature was 72 degrees.