Charlotte fire and rescue prepared for troubled waters — and more
(A clarification has been added to the end of this story.)
With more than three weeks of summer still left, the Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue boat has already been called out for 12 incidents.
That’s not the only time the volunteers have been on the waters of Lake Champlain.
Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service’s Marine 3 is a defender class response boat, capable of 45 knots and handling 4-to-6-foot waves.
Robert Caldwell, marine specialist with the fire department and treasurer for the fire and rescue service board, said the fire and rescue service tries to get on the water six to eight hours a week for training.
Caldwell took this reporter and two other volunteers with the fire and rescue service out on a beautiful Sunday to show what the department’s defender class response boat is like and discuss and demonstrate some of their rescue procedures.
Just after boarding, one of the first things to get communicated is that pointing out the blatantly obvious is emphasized on a craft like the Charlotte Fire Rescue Marine 3. Clear and direct communication is critical.
Marine 3 can move. It is capable of going 45 knots, or faster than 50 mph. Going at 40 knots, which was plenty fast for this reporter, the boat skims across the surface faster than a scalded cat, and every little wave translates into a big bump. Going at that speed, the waves, and the bumps, come fast and furious.
Every time Caldwell makes the littlest turn, he shouts it out, so his passengers expect it and hold on, even though they are already holding on.
“We have a rule on the boat that, no matter who’s at the helm, if you see something, don’t assume that the helmsman or the coxswain sees it,” he says.
Robert Caldwell pilots the fire and rescue service’s rescue boat, Marine 3, on a training cruise on Sunday.
Going across the lake, John Quade, practices his command of the obvious, shouting out the approach of every craft as soon as he sees it, even if it’s far in the distance.
Caldwell acknowledges his appreciation of Quade’s warnings, even if he’s already seen the threat. You should never assume that the person steering has seen what you’re seeing. The lake isn’t a road with vehicles just traveling in two directions; craft are coming from all directions, particularly on a beautiful day like this that’s perfect for water recreation.
Quade recently moved to Charlotte from Missouri with his wife and two young sons. He joined CVFRS in January after attending an event at the fire station. It’s something he had thought of doing before, but in Missouri he would have been required to take at least three months off from work to train — for a volunteer position.
Marine 3 is the second of two craft Charlotte’s department has. Marine 2 is a much smaller Zodiac rigid inflatable boat that generally stays at the fire and rescue building. Marine 2 is towed by trailer and can quickly get to lake access points besides Thompson’s Point.
The defender class response boat is the result of the 9/11 attacks. It was built by the federal government in case water bodies like Lake Champlain needed to be defended.
These boats had a shelf life of 10 years by U.S. government standards, so a bit after 2011, these boats were auctioned off by the federal government to municipalities. Charlotte fire and rescue purchased this boat with a donation, so it wasn’t paid for by town taxes.
The boat originally was outfitted with machine guns in the bow and stern. Now, the guns are gone, but the metal mounts remain, making a great, sturdy place for a recklessly standing reporter to hang onto, while trying to interview and photograph at the same time.
Rescue workers practice getting Libby Manning into a gurney from the fire and rescue boat and to an emergency vehicle at the Converse Bay Fish and Wildlife lake access point.
With a full crew the boat weighs almost 10,000 pounds and can handle 4-to-6-foot waves, Caldwell said.
In other words, Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service can respond to emergencies in very rough conditions.
Besides constant communication on the boat, the volunteers on the boat are constantly communicating with other agencies. In an emergency, the crew would be talking to Shelburne dispatch, but on this beautiful day, Marine 3 is not a concern for them. However, those on duty at the Burlington Coast Guard station are regularly checking in to see where the boat is, in case something comes up.
Mutual aid is the name of the game on the lake, maybe even more so than on land. Any time Charlotte’s rescue boat is called out for an emergency, Shelburne’s fire boat is called as well — and vice versa.
Shelburne handles dispatch for 38 agencies from Lake Champlain Islands to Addison County. Caldwell should know because he has been working as an emergency service dispatcher for Shelburne dispatch. Now, he’s going to work for the Vermont State Police.
Charlotte has 9 miles of coastline on Lake Champlain, but the Coast Guard Station in Burlington responds to incidents up and down the lake and across to the New York shore.
After retiring from a career in the Canadian Coast Guard, Caldwell studied at St. Lawrence University, and ended up there with a job in alumni relations. This was his entry point into higher education administration. He eventually became the vice president of Champlain College where he worked in finance and marketing communications.
Coast Guard, educational finance — Caldwell’s work experiences fit very well with the CVFRS.
When a call comes for a lake emergency, Caldwell can be at Marine 3 at Thompson’s Point Marina in three minutes. Except for winter, the boat is always in the water tied up at the dock, so they are ready to go as soon as rescuers arrive.
Charlotte rescue volunteers have a sophisticated text app. When they get a notice of a potential emergency, they can click on a link that will show everyone else who is on that network if they can respond and where. It includes a narrative that describes the incident they are being summoned to.
Members of the Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service practice getting emergency medical technician Tim Hwang into the boat during patient recovery and transfer exercises.
All the volunteers immediately know who else is responding, so they will know who will be in the boat helping deal with whatever situation they find.
In the case of a medical emergency, there would be two people responding in an ambulance. One of them will go out with the boat, while the other waits on shore.
“We train a lot for hypothermia. Cold water immersion is a big issue,” Caldwell said.
When the water is 60 degrees, people can suffer from hypothermia, and the lake can be that cold even when the air temperature is 80 degrees, he said.
The types of calls they respond to include boats that are taking on water, boats that have hit an island in the dark, missing people, boat fires.
Caldwell said, “Most often boat fires happen when you’re at the dock or out, having turned off your engine and anchored.”
If you haven’t blown out your engine compartment properly before starting, gas fumes may catch fire, he said. Marine 3 can capture a burning boat with a grappling hook and tow it to a safer area.
Libby Manning, who is in her senior year at Champlain Valley Union High, is a cadet. As soon as she turns 18, she plans to get her emergency medical certification and attend the fire academy.
Two years ago, her father suffered an aortic dissection; in effect his heart had exploded. Manning was so impressed by the efficiency and knowledge of the EMTs who responded that she decided she wanted to train and join CVFRS.
“I would like to be the person that is capable and knows what to do in a panic situation,” she said. “I went into it just feeling like it would be a good confidence booster for me, but now it’s something I want to pursue for the rest of my life.”
Manning has tried to recruit other CVU students to join the fire and rescue service’s cadet program. There are currently four students that are part of CVFRS, but the department would like to have more.
In the fall of 2025, Manning plans to attend a college, hopefully Dartmouth, where she can be part of a rescue service while she’s in school.
The rescue service volunteers are happy to go out for calls where it turns out everything is OK, though there are calls that have them scratching their heads. For example, a couple of weeks ago they got a call from someone who had waited an hour after seeing what they thought was an overturned kayak floating in the lake. When the volunteers got to the scene it was a floating log. They did move it out of the middle of the lake.
They get frustrating calls from people who have run out of gas and called fire and rescue rather than calling a neighbor or friend. There is no charge for the wacky or frivolous calls — at least not to those who make the calls. Those calls are paid for by taxes.
Caldwell thinks one of the keys to Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue growing as a stronger organization is becoming more visible. “We have a marketing issue. We’re not telling our story enough,” he said.
As a consequence, as Marine 3 cruises past the ferries, other boats and docks, we wave at everyone. The department is looking to be involved more, showing people that they are on the lake.
“I think we want to create a pathway where there’s more involvement,” Caldwell said.
He thinks that people don’t have much awareness of all the things the Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service can do to help people in emergencies. For example, he thinks few know that in an emergency Charlotte residents don’t have to drive all the way to the hospital themselves.
“They don’t have to go to the hospital. They can just go down to the Charlotte fire department and get hospital-level emergency department care,” he said. “They don’t know that.”
He’s looking for ways to tell them.
(Clarification: Charlotte Fire and Rescue strongly encourages residents to call 911 first and foremost for any emergency. 9-1-1 will dispatch the necessary fire, medical or law enforcement resources for your particular emergency.)