Milford Firefighters Rescue 2 People Who Fell off the Sandbar Leading to Charles Island

The Milford Fire Department rescuing people in distress is not a new phenomenon but what unfolded Tuesday afternoon is almost beyond belief.

Firefighters just happened to be performing training on the use of their jet ski in waters off Silver Sands State Beach when they were alerted to two people who were in distress and had fallen off the sometimes dangerous sandbar leading to Charles Island, said Fire Capt. Gregory Carman.

Luckily, for the two people, the Fire Department was already on the scene training for exact situations like the one described above and the two individuals were quickly rescued.

“If not for the awareness of a bystander and the timing of our training, the outcome could have been worse,” Carman said.

Carmen said the two people were clinging to a marker buoy about 500 feet offshore. Fire personnel immediately responded and picked up both people and transported them back to shore, Carman said.

They were assessed for injuries and none were found besides fatigue from fighting the current. Both were trying to walk on the sand bar while the tide was covering it and when they realized it was too deep, they began to return to shore, the fire official said.

The constant current was able to sweep them off their feet and into deeper water, where they were able to swim to the buoy to wait for help. Lifeguards are not on duty this time of year and the weather is still warm enough for all types of water activities.

“The Milford Fire Department has purchased a PWC specifically for these situations for a faster response. The training being conducted by Mather Rescue is structured to Milford’s shoreline for not only the sand bar to Charles Island, but also for rescues from the rocky areas on our eastern shores, operating in the currents of the Housatonic River, and confined maneuvers during the flooding of our shoreline areas,” Carman said. 

Once training is completed, the PWC will be housed at the beach near the sand bar for the quickest possible response for the numerous incidents we have in this area.