Are y’all ready for the rest of the story, you may want to grab a big'ol glass of sweet tea or your favorite cold-beverage…
I had taken the first group back to the ramp, I had met the rest of the gang and we had just arrived at Bergeron’s Camp. Just then a guy with a little girl on his boat pulls up and starts “buggin out� waving his arms and yelling about 2 boats stuck in the mud for hours “over there� and how he just had to get outta there because his girl was “freakin’ out�. It looked like the other way around to me, she just sat there. He hit the gas and took off like a …, well you know.
I received a phone call from some guys at our local airboat club and they told me a little more. They said there were 2 airboats stuck North and East of Bergeron’s Camp and they needed some more help to get ‘em out. They told me who it was and gave me a description of the boats, both Glades style deckovers a 4cyl-160hp and a 6cyl-290hp. I had an idea where they were (because I knew exactly where I did not want to go) and we left the rest of the group to go see what we could do. As I headed towards where I thought they were, the trail dried up and we were opening up that old mud trail on the way to the wier (old boat ramp-39). I shut down the engine and tried to listen for the sounds of a stuck airboat, there was nothing. I was able to reach them on the phone and tried to see if I was close, at the same time they were on the phone with me they were also talking to at least 1 other person (maybe 911 dispatch?) on another phone. I could hear the other conversation and they were going back and forth talking about whether or not to use the signal flare to pinpoint their location.
A side note, I’ve talked with some good ‘ol boys over the years regarding the use of signal flares while in the Glades. The general thought was that is wasn’t a good idea with all that dry grass around, to be stuck or broke down and then have a fire on top of that. Until that day it was just talk.
We were within about ¼ mile of the stuck boats and we saw the GLOW of a red flare about 50’ high and then going down. As soon as we saw it my buddy said he’s gonna be lucky if that don’t start a fire, then we saw the black smoke. Seconds later we saw flames, and they were starting to grow. Just minutes before, it was important to find the boats and try to get them out before it got dark. Now it was URGENT. The airboats were still stuck and now there was a fire between us and them. They had notified the local fire rescue (who has a rescue chopper and airboat) and told them that they were still stuck and now there was a fire.
My “spidey-senses� were tingling now. I got my buddy Lloyd and his 15 year old son on the boat with me to think about as well. Do we continue in and possibly get stuck ourselves? I know my airboat is alot bigger and heavier than the ones that are stuck and the closer to the road the drier and more overgrown it gets. What if we get trapped by the fire? I have seen grass fires in the Glades that spread so quickly there would be no chance of escape. I know that there are several trained rescue personel or firefighters on this site, I ain’t one of ‘em. I guess it says something about my personality and the way I was raised, because I turned to my buddy and said “I’m going in, if you wanna turn around or you think it ain’t safe just let me know.� He nodded his head and we took off towards the fire and the stuck airboats.
As we got closer, I could see an airboat headed in what was left of the trail into the willows about 25yards from the fire. I saw the fire was in a patch of sawgrass in a dried up slough. I figured I would try to get a handle on the fire before trying to get the airboats. So I drove my airboat around the patch of sawgrass a couple times to try to knock the grass down and get the ground wet enough to make a firebreak to keep it from spreading or getting closer to the people and airboats. If you’ve never been quite that close to a fire, you can take my word for it, it gets pretty intense with the cracking and popping as the embers rise up with the heat and smoke.
Once the fire was “contained�, I pulled my airboat up near where the other ones were stuck and we got out into the mud. I told my friends son to stay on the airboat, keep an eye on the fire, and let us know if it flares up or starts to spread. One boat was stuck going in and the other was about 20 yards away coming out of the same trail. Both were wedged in the skinny little mud trail that wasn’t wide enough for either one. Now that we had a couple of extra guys we were able to push and pull and lift the front of the airboat coming out, we were able to get him moved enough to drive out of the trail up and through the willows where he was freed up. The other airboat didn’t have the stuff to power through the willows, so we has to push and pull and lift the front of his boat to get it moving and to where the first boat was, the trail was a little wider. Then we grabbed the grass rake and spun it around 180 degrees right there in the trail. Now we were able to push and pull and lift the front of the airboat and get him out the same way he came in.
Now it was getting dark and we had all the boats unstuck and headed the right way. Just before we got ready to leave a small fire had flared back up, so I drove my airboat over and knocked down some more grass and then drove across it to put it out. They called 911 again to let the authorities know that the people and airboats were OK and the fire was out. The flashing red lights that were seen was the fire truck and rescue airboat (on the trailer) on the Alley headed to the ramp at mm41. (They had already got the call that we were alright and never got the fire rescue airboat off the trailer.) As we started to go back on that dried up old mud trail, the little airboat got stuck a couple more times. By this time it was dark. Everybody off the airboat pushing and pulling on the grass rake, working the throttle by hand standing next to it as it inches forward in the mud. As we are working on getting the boat free we look into the night sky and here comes the rescue chopper. He hovered right over us with his hi-intensity lights blazing. They could see we were workin it out, and they took off.
Man I tell ya, I’ve seen and done alot out in the Everglades over the years but this was closer to a fire than I wanted to be and talk about a strange feeling standing there in the swamp with the chopper hovering overhead lighting up the night.
We got the airboats back to a trail that had some water in it and I led the way back to Camp 9. From there I was gonna point them towards the lights at MM35 ramp and go to camp and get some dinner. Then they told me that one of them didn’t bring a light (because they were only going out for the day) and they didn’t know the area well enough especially at night, and asked if I would lead the rest of the way back to the ramp.
Alright saddle up, let’s go. I take off and head into the night, I look behind me and they haven’t moved. I turned around and drove back to see what happened. Come to find out, one of them was out of gas. They tried to get gas out of the other airboat, but it wasn’t workin’ like they wanted. No problem, I gave up my extra jug of fuel.
We start off again. STOP. Now the other airboat looses the flexpipe from the header on one side. We turn around again and they borrowed a bungee cord to secure the flex to the cage for the ride back to the ramp. From there we got them back to the ramp safely.
Finally we got back to camp and got some dinner. We sat around the campfire for a little bit and then got ready to try some froggin. I started the airboat and heard a noise. We looked at the back of the boat and found that somewhere in all the excitement the back lower support for my rudders had broken where the pipe comes together. My night was finished on my boat, so I rode on the back of Darkwaders ride while we went out to look for some frogs with Cntry and Stan. The next morning I made a splint from a small piece of conduit, some big ty wraps, and a little tie wire. My buddy asked “Do you want some duct tape on there for safety?� Yea it was kinda rough, but it got us back to the ramp and on the trailer.
I will continue to help anytime I can, for as long as I am able. Even though as I type this my hands are cut from the sawgrass, my legs are bruised, my back is sore, and my airboat is broken.
Along with a little southern drama I was reminded that if I gotta be pushin’ and pullin’ on an airboat, I would rather it be light & aircraft powered and I now know for sure
“I will NEVER use a flare in the EVERGLADES�.
Sorry I didn’t get any pictures.
