Eckerd College Search and Rescue (EC-SAR) is a student volunteer

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prin ...

search and rescue team. EC-SAR provides its services free of charge to the

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

area of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, from its station on the

Eckerd College Eckerd College is a private liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida. Founded in 1958, part of the campus is waterfront and beach on Boca Ciega Bay. Because of its location, Eckerd is considered a "beach school" and has its own student ...

campus. EC-SAR works alongside local EMS services and the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

. For emergency assistance EC-SAR can be contacted on VHF channels 16 and 68, phone number (727) 864-8256, or through Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg. Along with providing its services to the community, EC-SAR seeks to better the students by "Education through Service," building leadership and team skills.

History

In 1971 the team was created for the safety of the college's own vessels in the Waterfront Program. By 1977 EC-SAR expanded its services to the Tampa Bay area community. EC-SAR gained national attention in 1980 when it was one of the first agencies to respond to the

Sunshine Skyway Bridge The Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, often referred to as the Sunshine Skyway Bridge or the Sunshine Skyway, consists of a pair of long beam bridges with a central cable-stayed bridge that spans Lower Tampa Bay to connect St. Petersburg, ...

disaster. EC-SAR was rated "Best Student Group" in ''Florida Leaders "Best of Florida Schools 2003" issu

Members coordinate the utilization of four rescue boats through an operations/communications center located in the Waterfront Activities building. Students are rigorously trained in seamanship and handling boats, as well as a variety of rescue techniques. They are also trained to operate radios and correspond with other organizations such as the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

, the local police department and the fire department. EC-SAR responds to over 600 cases per year.

Services

Within their response range, including all of Tampa Bay and up to ten miles into the Gulf of Mexico from Longboat Pass to John's Pass, some services provided include: * Towing Using a variety of techniques, disabled vessels are towed to the place of nearest safe mooring. * Grounders Grounded vessels are pulled off and towed to the nearest safe mooring. * Dewatering Stopping the flow of water into a vessel and removing the water already in the vessel. * Parbuckling Righting an overturned vessel. * Firefighting Putting out fires that have started on boats, and occasionally towing burning boats away from populous areas. * Searching Searching for people or objects, including overdue vessels, overdue people and people who have jumped from the

. * Medical Assistance

First responders A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency, such as an accident, disaster, medical emergency, structure fire, crime, or terr ...

stabilize injured patients and transport them to land where local EMS can meet them.

Awards

In 2015, the St. Petersburg Police Department awarded EC-SAR a grant for $8,000. In 2019, EC-SAR received the Meritorious Public Service Award, the second-highest of the

Coast Guard public Service Awards The United States Coast Guard maintains several civilian Public Service Awards to recognize private citizens, groups, or organizations for helping the Coast Guard carry out its missions. These awards are U.S. Government Awards issued by the Coa ...

, from the

References

External links

Eckerd College Search and Rescue
official Web site Rescue agencies Organizations based in Florida Eckerd College 1971 establishments in Florida {{Florida-stub