Sailboat carrying two young children and their father tips on Green Lake, prompting large emergency response

What do you think? (2 Comments) August 20, 2011 at 1:17PM

Updated Monday, August 22, 3:45 p.m.

A small sailboat capsized just before 12:30 p.m. this afternoon (Saturday, August 20, 2011) on Green Lake.

The sailboat was carrying two young girls and their father, according to Officer C.E. Allers of the Seattle Police Department Harbor Patrol.

A bystander says that the boat was not far from shore when its mast broke and it tipped. All of the occupants were wearing life jackets.

Following the tip of the boat, a witness on the shore immediately called 9-1-1 and 13 emergency response units were dispatched to the Green Lake Small Craft Center, at the southwest corner of Green Lake Park (5900 West Green Lake Way N).

There were no injuries, according to Officer Allers.

Author: Amy Duncan

Location: South Green Lake, West Green Lake

Topics: boating, kids

What do you think? (2 Comments)

Michael W. Perry

I often follow Seattle Fire’s 911 responses, and I can’t make sense of the number of vehicles and crews they routinely send to water emergencies. In this case, 13 vehicles and perhaps forty people responded to a small sailboat with three people that overturned near the Green Lake shoreline. That seems a gross overreaction.

Little sailboats overturn and de-mast all the time. That’s simply what they do. On a windy day, boats from the UW sailing club will be overturning in Portage Bay every few minutes. I was on a sailboat that de-masted on Lake Washington several hundred yards offshore. I didn’t need any help getting it to shore, much less a 911 response with 13 vehicles.

You’d think the 911 operator in this Green Lake incident would have enough sense to know an overturned sailboat is no big deal and keep the person reporting on the line so the response could be reduced radically when told that all three passengers were swimming for shore.I can understand a large response for something on land. A house fire might sudden accelerate, putting a nearby apartment at risk. But why such a large response when a single person on a jet ski goes under, as happened last Wednesday on Lake Washington? The real response has to come from those with boats. All the fire trucks and their crews could do is look on from shore. And when it’s clear that the maximum number of those injured or dead is one, as on Wednesday, why send more than one medic/EMT team?I might add that our 911 response system doesn’t seem to overreact in the case of far more horrendous auto accidents. I was in one where both cars were totaled on I-5 near the U-District. Fifteen minutes later, there was only one EMT vehicle on the scene. The ambulance they called never arrived.I’m starting to suspect that 911 responders simply like to watch water rescues. They’re typically bloodless and the scenery is nice, particularly if there’s a bikini-rich beach nearby. Auto accidents, on the other hand, are often a gory mess and the response is best kept to an absolute minimum. No one likes to be a part of them and I don’t blame them.But keep in mind that these outsized responses are not only expensive, they pull away vehicles and crews that might be needed elsewhere. A fire crew that’s taken out-of-district to stand on a beach at Green Lake or Lake Washington isn’t going to be able to response as quickly to a fire in its district.In short, our 911 response should match the needs of the incident and the capabilities of those responding. It shouldn’t depend on how scenic the locale is.
ltfd

Mr. Perry, in order to provide some perspective on the
standardized responses that are dispatched to various reported emergencies in
Seattle, we should review the purpose of dispatching emergency resources- to
identify/confirm the nature of the reported hazard, intervene to the benefit of
any threatened individuals/property/environment, and provide necessary support
to affected individuals or property. To provide this emergency service,
adequate resources must respond so that parallel, rather than sequential,
mitigation activities can be undertaken. This improves the outcome for the
threatened patient or property, and it improves the safety of the emergency
responders involved in incident mitigation.

You assume much when you state that a 911 Dispatcher should
be able to accurately size-up a reported emergency situation when talking with
the caller, who may be: agitated, not in direct view of the emergency incident,
not have full details on the nature of the emergency, or have no expertise in
accurately describing the nature of the incident. Additionally, the 911 call
takers are civilian Police employees who work at the PSAP (Public Safety Answering
Point), and they redirect the call information to other Police Dispatchers or
to the Fire Alarm Center (Fire/Rescue/MedicOne) depending upon the nature of
the reported emergency. The final dispatcher does not always have the
opportunity to interview the 911 caller (they often hang up or leave the
phone).

The Seattle Fire Department utilizes standard dispatch
protocols that assign a pre-designated set of units to each type of reported
emergency. The intent is to provide all of the possible resources needed to
mitigate the emergency incident from the outset. If more resources are required
to mitigate the emergency, the first-arriving unit can request them. If fewer
resources are required to mitigate the emergency, the first-arriving unit can
reduce or cancel the other responding units- as occurred the other day on Green
Lake.

The first emergency
unit on scene was Medic 16. They confirmed the nature of the emergency and
provided updated information, reporting an overturned sailboat with an adult
and two small children, approximately 100 yards offshore. While one paramedic
confirmed that all persons-in-the-water were with the overturned sailboat, and
wearing PFDs (personal flotation devices), the other paramedic responded out to
the capsized vessel with a Parks Department employee & boat. As Engine 17
and a Harbor Patrol vehicle arrived on scene, Medic 16 cancelled the remainder
of the emergency response once there was confirmation that all persons were
accounted for.

Mr. Perry,
you described the response as a “gross overreaction”, however if one person was
unaccounted for- missing following the capsizing, then what would the
appropriate response be? The standard “Water Rescue” response provided 22
firefighters (not forty) in the event someone was unaccounted for (underwater).

Water Rescue Response: 8/20/2011, 12:29:13 PM, 5660 West Green
Lake Way N, Incident #76564.

Ladder 7, Aid 14, Battalion 5 – the Technical Rescue team; seven firefighters
to provide underwater search operations.

Engine 17, Ladder 9, Aid 2, Medic 16 & 44, Battalion 6, Safety 2 –
fifteen firefighters to: contact witnesses and triangulate patient
location/last seen location; perform shore-based or boat-based rescue
operations; assist the Dive Team in donning their gear & carrying equipment
to the water’s edge; set up a Medical Group to receive/treat patients and Dive
Team personnel; set up an incident management system and communicate with
Harbor Patrol, Medical Control at Harborview, other on scene resources, and the
media.