Just after 6PM units from Newburg, Boat 6 (Cobb Island) and Colonial Beach Boat 1 were alerted to Aqualand for a flare sighting/overdue boat. Engine 144, Chief 14B (J. Rice) responded and Chief 14B established the Potomac River Command. The Newburg Command requested a helicopter to assist in the search. Trooper 7 arrived a short time later and found a life jacket in the water with no persons or boats in the area. The boats recovered the life jacket and continued to search the area found nothing. A severe storm was approaching the area and at that time, the Newburg Command placed the boats in service to seek shelter.
Engine 144 and Chief 14B remained at Aqualand and regrouped with DNR. Once the storm cleared the decision was made to upgrade the assignment to a search, which brought Charles County Dive Team, Boat 8, Boat 6, Ambulance 149 and MSU-14. St. Mary's Boat 5 was special requested with the side scan sonar capabilities, Charles County Dive Team also have the equipment.
The units searched the Potomac for another 4 hours, boat 6 recovered a paddle during that time. The U.S. Coast Guard assisted with a local boat along with a helicopter from Atlantic City, New Jersey. The decision was made at 2AM by Chief 14B along with Chief 13 to cancel the search due to visibility and weather conditions. The Coast Guard continued searching throughout the night.
On Monday morning at 9:30AM, once again units were called back out to assist the Coast Guard with the search. MSU-14 and the Captain responded and established the Potomac River Command. Boat 8 and Fairview Beach Boat 3 assisted. Once the boats arrived at Aqualand command had the boats do a face to face interview with the family to obtain more detailed information on the missing. After the interview the decision was made to call for more boats. Boat 6, Boat 7 and Colonial Beach Boat 1, Charles County Dive Team were alerted to respond. The Command Bus was also requested so that a unified command could be established. The boats once again started a thorough search of the river. The USCG helicopter located a body around noon and Boat 8 was sent to assist in the recovery. At that time all fire department boats were brought in to Aqualand for rehab. Around 1PM a image/grid search were initiated, which Chief 7B and Chief 13 coordinated. The second body was located around 3PM, and recovered by the Charles County Dive Team.
Command (Capt. Butler) terminated the command and units were returned to service. The USCG and DNR then took over the scene.
A special thanks to everyone who assisted and a Job Well Done.
