- The Dept. rescued a man
who fell through thin ice on Highland Lake on Sat. the 16th. of Feb., 2002 using the
Airboat. The following letter was on the web site for "Airboats in the Fire
Service".
-
"Sullivan County"
Glen Spey, New York
Saturday, February 16, 2002
Lumberland Fire Department Inc.
MAN RESCUED FROM ICY LAKE
Responding with their airboat to a mutual
aid call involving a ice rescue operation, the Lumberland
Fire Department executed a successful
rescue of a man from a frozen lake.
The Lumberland Fire Dept. received a call
for mutual aid from the Highland Lake Vol. Fire Dept. to
assist in a ice rescue operation on
Highland Lake. Responding with their 18 foot RiverCraft airboat,
upon Lumberland's arrival they found H.
L. Vol. F.D. attempting a rescue of a 24 y/o man, who had
fallen through the ice approx.. 700 feet
from shore, while riding his ATV with friends, according to Asst.
Chief K. Flieger.
H.L. Vol. F. D. had already donned "Gumby
suits" and were working their way to the 384 pound victim
when Lumberland arrived. Lumberland
immediately launched their airboat and slid across the ice
covered lake and removed the victim from
the water within 2 min. of their launching and had him on
shore and being treated by EMS personnel
within a total of 5 min. According to Assist. Chief Flieger, it
was reported that the victim had been in
the water for a total of 15 minutes, with Lumberland
having a 9 minute response time.
This was Lumberland's first successful
rescue using their airboat since acquiring it in Sept. 2000. Up
until now other calls, mostly on the
Delaware River were body recovery operations. Congratulations
Lumberland Fire Department!"
3/15/02
