WASHINGTON – Firefighters and Coast Guardsmen from Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB) and the District of Columbia police and fire departments rescued two people from the Potomac River this evening.
Three Good Samaritans from JBAB, were also pulled from the river by the rescue forces, according to sources at the scene.
JBAB-based Coast Guard Station Washington and Naval District Washington Fire and Emergency Services (NDW F&ES) personnel teamed with D.C Fire and Emergency Medical Services (D.C. FEMS) and Metropolitan Police Department boats to perform the rescues off JBAB’s shoreline at approximately 6:20 p.m.
JBAB-based Coast Guard Rescue response boat 29107, four JBAB DOD Police units, F&ES Engine Company 41, Tower Ladder Company 21 and Battalion 41, along with Hazmat Company 43 from the adjacent Naval Research Laboratory, responded to the scene and found the five people in the water.
The two rescued people included an adult male and an adult female. Both were initially aboard a boat operating on the river. The female was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation and treatment. The male was evaluated at the scene and released from the JBAB marina. The boat they were aboard was taken in tow by an MPD boat and safely moored at a nearby marina.
A male Air Force lieutenant colonel, a female retired Navy commander and a male DOD civilian employee, who were all on land at JBAB, saw the distressed boaters and entered the water to provide assistance, until the rescue boats arrived.
Four other people were rescued from the Potomac River earlier in the day. NDW F&ES Engine Company 752, based in Carderock, Maryland, assisted Montgomery County, Maryland and Fairfax County, Virginia Fire-Rescue and U.S. Park Police personnel in rescuing four people from the Potomac River near Carderock.
In addition to performing rescues, fighting fires, mitigating hazardous materials incidents and providing emergency medical services at naval installations, NDW F&ES personnel often assist local communities in providing those same essential services in order to save lives and property.