Portsmouth Fire Crews Rescue Juvenile Adrift on Sailboat

Members of the Portsmouth Fire Department often spend as much time out on the water saving lives as they do in the town’s neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, for example, crews responded to three marine incidents, including one involving a juvenile alone on a sailboat adrift in the waters off Common Fence Point.

According to Portsmouth Fire Department Dep. Chief Michael P. O’Brien, crews were just finishing an earlier incident when the department got a report of a sailboat adrift with a juvenile on board alone.

Members of the Bristol and Portsmouth Fire Departments along with the U.S. Coast Guard responded at around 3:28 p.m. and located the boat about 10 minutes later.

The child was rescued and the boat was towed back to the shore.

That incident occurred just after the department was notified that there was an inflatable raft adrift off Sand Point on Prudence Island.

Concerned that a boater might have fallen out of the boat, Bristol, Portsmouth and Coast Guard responders began a search along the shore at around 2:58 p.m. in an effort to identify the owner. Eventually, they learned that the boat had been picked up by a commercial vessel.

Ultimately, the boat owner was found and confirmed that it had blown away in the wind.

“People are asked to report situations where vessels have drifted away to local authorities or Coast Guard, as boats adrift in the bay are perceived as a sign of someone in distress and emergency responders must respond out to investigate,” O’Brien said. “These responders are no longer available for any true emergency that may occur.”

Then, at around 3:52 p.m., Portsmouth Fire Dept. Lt. Lt. Mike Pinksaw saw a person in a small dinghy holding onto a mooring “apparently in distress” in the Sakonnet River, north of the Sakonnet River Bridge.

Portsmouth’s Marine 2 diverted to that location and was able to help that individual.

All units were cleared by 4:33 p.m.

An engine company from Naval Station Newport covered Portsmouth during the water incidents.