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orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-airboats2407jun24,0,4268971.story
'Airboat posse' set to help out in a crisis
The team, thought to be the first of its kind in the state, includes about 20 newly credentialed volunteers.
Susan Jacobson
Sentinel Staff Writer
June 24, 2007
Watching TV reports two years ago on the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina made Michael Townsend realize that a similar catastrophe could happen to his friends and family in Central Florida.
That's one of the reasons the Cocoa ironworker decided to volunteer for a new Orange County Sheriff's "airboat posse," designed to deploy in emergencies such as hurricanes, plane crashes and lost boaters.
On Saturday, about 20 volunteers received credentials as part of the airboat team.
"It gives people like me a chance to give back to the community," said Bob Palumbo of Winter Springs, chief financial officer of a Lake Mary security company.
The idea for the team, thought to be the first in Florida, came to Orange Sheriff Kevin Beary after Hurricane Katrina, when some airboaters were turned away because volunteer rescuers weren't operating under the auspices of a recognized agency. Plans for the posse have been in the works for about a year.
The team includes people from a nine-county "domestic security region" that includes Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Volusia, Lake, Brevard, Indian River, Martin and St. Lucie, said Orange sheriff's Cmdr. Joe Carter of the department's homeland-security section.
With a sheriff, firefighter or other professional rescue worker aboard, the airboaters would be sent on search-and-rescue missions or to ferry supplies to a disaster area. Although the Sheriff's Office has its own fleet of four airboats, more would likely be needed during a calamity, Carter said. Volunteers could be called upon to help in the nine-county area and beyond.
On Saturday, the recruits learned how and when they might be deployed and discussed logistics, planning and safety. They also received airboat-team identification cards and stickers for their boats.
The final step was when sheriff's officials inspected the boats in the parking lot to make sure they contained items such as life vests, paddles or oars, a fire extinguisher, a spotlight, a Global Positioning System, a ship-to-shore radio, signaling devices and earplugs.
Airboats offer advantages that other boats, cars and trucks don't have, said Jim Brown, president of the Lake County Airboat Club and volunteer leader of the sheriff's team.
The boats can be used "any time that you need to transport people or equipment in shallow water, or maybe no water," Brown said.
Kaye Jameson, one of two women who underwent the training, said she's looking forward to helping people but realizes that it won't be easy.
"You don't know what situation you're going to run into," said Jameson, a land surveyor from Lake County. "There can be some gruesome aspects."
Volunteers said the team will demonstrate the positive aspects of airboating, which has garnered bad publicity because of complaints about noise.
"Noise is the sound of Yankees coming down here and complaining about what we've been doing for ages," quipped Phil Walters, a Tampa alligator guide who operates an airboat charter and ride company.
'Airboat posse' set to help out in a crisis
The team, thought to be the first of its kind in the state, includes about 20 newly credentialed volunteers.
Susan Jacobson
Sentinel Staff Writer
June 24, 2007
Watching TV reports two years ago on the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina made Michael Townsend realize that a similar catastrophe could happen to his friends and family in Central Florida.
That's one of the reasons the Cocoa ironworker decided to volunteer for a new Orange County Sheriff's "airboat posse," designed to deploy in emergencies such as hurricanes, plane crashes and lost boaters.
On Saturday, about 20 volunteers received credentials as part of the airboat team.
"It gives people like me a chance to give back to the community," said Bob Palumbo of Winter Springs, chief financial officer of a Lake Mary security company.
The idea for the team, thought to be the first in Florida, came to Orange Sheriff Kevin Beary after Hurricane Katrina, when some airboaters were turned away because volunteer rescuers weren't operating under the auspices of a recognized agency. Plans for the posse have been in the works for about a year.
The team includes people from a nine-county "domestic security region" that includes Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Volusia, Lake, Brevard, Indian River, Martin and St. Lucie, said Orange sheriff's Cmdr. Joe Carter of the department's homeland-security section.
With a sheriff, firefighter or other professional rescue worker aboard, the airboaters would be sent on search-and-rescue missions or to ferry supplies to a disaster area. Although the Sheriff's Office has its own fleet of four airboats, more would likely be needed during a calamity, Carter said. Volunteers could be called upon to help in the nine-county area and beyond.
On Saturday, the recruits learned how and when they might be deployed and discussed logistics, planning and safety. They also received airboat-team identification cards and stickers for their boats.
The final step was when sheriff's officials inspected the boats in the parking lot to make sure they contained items such as life vests, paddles or oars, a fire extinguisher, a spotlight, a Global Positioning System, a ship-to-shore radio, signaling devices and earplugs.
Airboats offer advantages that other boats, cars and trucks don't have, said Jim Brown, president of the Lake County Airboat Club and volunteer leader of the sheriff's team.
The boats can be used "any time that you need to transport people or equipment in shallow water, or maybe no water," Brown said.
Kaye Jameson, one of two women who underwent the training, said she's looking forward to helping people but realizes that it won't be easy.
"You don't know what situation you're going to run into," said Jameson, a land surveyor from Lake County. "There can be some gruesome aspects."
Volunteers said the team will demonstrate the positive aspects of airboating, which has garnered bad publicity because of complaints about noise.
"Noise is the sound of Yankees coming down here and complaining about what we've been doing for ages," quipped Phil Walters, a Tampa alligator guide who operates an airboat charter and ride company.
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