$500 grant awarded to Nahant FD’s Ocean Rescue Team

The Nahant Fire Department’s Ocean Rescue Team has been selected by the Massachusetts Call/Volunteer Firefighters’ Association (MC/VFA) to receive its Fire Company of the Month Grant.The $500 grant will pay for two waterproof and buoyant VHF portable handheld radios that the special operations unit considers vital during rescue operations. The radios, manufactured by ICOM, allow team members to communicate between shore command and the rescue boats using marine frequencies.Larry White, the association vice president for Region 2 and a member of the Groveland Fire Department, presented the grant to members of the Ocean Rescue Team.Nahant Call Firefighter Dennis Ball, the department’s delegate to the MC/VFA, applied for the grant in June. He explained in the application that Nahant has a population of 4,000 residents, a land area of 1.2 square miles and approximately 15 square miles of open ocean. According to Ball, due to Nahant’s unique geographic location, the department maintains the special-operations unit that is responsible for technical coastal and ocean surface rescue.Without the VHF radios, the special team was forced to rely on fire radios that are not compatible with the marine elements in which the team often operates. “The new radios would allow members to become more effective by attaching the radios to their bodies without fear of damaging the equipment,” Ball told the association grant panel.He also noted in the application that the team operates a wave runner, a rigid-hull inflatable boat, and other assets.Although the team operates under the Fire Department, its expenses are a separate line item within the annual town budget. As a result, the team must keep its expenditures to a minimum.Ball said the portable radios will allow timely communications with other agencies typically involved in water rescue, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the town’s harbormaster, and other public safety units.Nahant has a combination fire department, consisting of 8 career and 20 call members. The Ocean Rescue Team typically maintains a roster of 10 members and is solely comprised and operated by the call firefighters on the department.The team was formed in 1997 after two tourists fell from the town’s rocky shoreline and were killed. The incident focused on the need for an ocean rescue unit.Initially under Police Department command, the team has since been included into the Fire Department as a Special Operations Unit. Over the years its members have received specialized rescue training in areas involving difficult and vertically challenged conditions.The team trains monthly, practicing maneuvers and skills including rope tying, climbing and rappelling, high-angle pickoffs, tethered swimming and ice rescue.(David Liscio is president of the Nahant Call Firefighters’ Association and a member of the Ocean Rescue Team).