John Penney
The Day, New London, Conn.
(TNS)

New London — The city’s fire department is hoping to expand and improve its marine search and rescue capabilities with a larger, sturdier inflatable boat that can hold more people than the one currently in operation.

The City Council last month approved an application for a $57,000 Department of Homeland Security Port Security grant that, when matched with $14,000 in city funds, would enable the department to purchase a 17-foot, hard-bottomed inflatable boat, along with a towing trailer.

Fire Chief Vernon Skau recently said the department now uses a 10-foot, motorized inflatable boat when firefighters are called to conduct search and rescue operations in any waters surrounding New London, from Ocean Beach Park to City Pier.

He said the new boat would come equipped with side-scanning radar, a center console and enough room for eight people.

“It’s designed to be launched for quick search-and-rescue operations anywhere near our shorelines, especially in deeper or rougher waters and, if there’s a drowning victim, the sonar allows us to quickly scan under water,” Skau said. “The one we have now can fit three people. The one we’d like to get can fit eight, which would be good if we’re dealing with a few people in the water.”

The department last year was dispatched to approximately 10 maritime-related calls that required its boat to be launched. Those calls ranged from suicide calls and persons in the water to sick boat passengers.

The grant money would also cover training personnel to use the new boat.

Adrianna Reyes, the city’s grant and projects coordinator, said port security grants are extremely competitive. She did not have a timeline on when this year’s grants would be awarded, though in the past such monies were announced in October.

In their application, city officials wrote an upgraded boat would establish a dedicated marine emergency response capability for the City of New London, enhancing waterside response, port security and regional interoperability.

The boat being sought will not include any fire-suppression equipment. Skau said the city currently relies on other agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, for water-based firefighting efforts.

“I think in the future, we might be looking to add that kind of equipment, but it’s expensive — we’d need a much larger boat and have to train people to use it,” Skau said. “Right now, most of our people can operate the search-and-rescue boats.”

j.penney@theday.com

© 2025 The Day (New London, Conn.). Visit www.theday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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A Florida woman died Tuesday when her car collided with a Polk County Fire Rescue ambulance that was responding to an emergency call.

The Lakeland Ledger reports Elaine Dunn, 83, of Winter Haven was leaving the Winter Haven Oaks Retirement Community around 10 a.m. when she tried to turn onto Spirit Lake Road and crossed into the path of the southbound ambulance, which had its lights and sirens activated.

Dunn was pronounced dead at the scene. Two Polk County Fire Rescue members were in the ambulance when it crashed and were treated and released from the hospital.

Visit the Lakeland Ledger for more.

The post FL Woman, 83, Killed in Collision with Ambulance appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

The Sea Isle City (NJ) Fire Department covers a one-by-four-square-mile area with a year-round population of 40,000 that swells to 100,000 in the summer on the Atlantic coast barrier island of Ludlam Island. The department runs a Sutphen rescue-pumper, a Spartan ER pumper, a Ferrara 77-foot aerial ladder quint, a water rescue truck, a Zodiac rigid-hull inflatable (RIB), and a Yamaha WaveRunner from one station that’s staffed by 22 full-time and 43 part-time paid stipend volunteer firefighters.

Sea Isle City determined it needed a more nimble vehicle than its Type 1 pumpers to negotiate some of the tight areas of the town, as well as to access residents during flooding and high water. The department chose Darley to build it a Max Tactical Pumper™ to fill that slot in its fleet.

Chief Joe Wagner says the department bought the tactical pumper to complement its first-due engine and to better handle high water situations. “We got the tactical pumper with Super Single wheels and tires and used it this summer when a hurricane was off the coast,” Wagner points out. “We were able to take that tactical pumper through four feet of flood water and make a series of rescues with the vehicle.”

Kyle Darley, vice president of Darley’s tactical division, says the Max Tactical Pumper that Darley built for Sea Isle City is on a Ford F-550 four-door 4×4 cab and chassis with seating for four firefighters, two of them in self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) seats, a PolyBilt™ copolymer body, a 330-horsepower (hp) 6.7-liter engine, and an OEM automatic transmission. Wheelbase on the tactical pumper is 203 inches, overall length is 26 feet 4 inches, and overall height is 8 feet 10 inches.

Darley says the Max Tactical Pumper has a Darley PSMC 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) midship pump, a 300-gallon water tank, a 25-gallon foam tank, a Darley AutoCAFS® compressed air foam system (CAFS) with a gear-d