The
Neoteric Rescue Hovercraft owned by the White River Hazleton Volunteer
Fire Department has served them well since they purchased it in 2011. The
Department operates a dive boat, but needed a hovercraft to let them access areas a boat can’t reach. White River Hazleton protects the main fork of the
White River in southern Indiana, which drains 70% of the state, and they
provide mutual aid into Illinois as well.
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Mark Ellis
of the White River Hazleton Fire Department pilots their Neoteric hovercraft on
the Wabash River last year as his Department assisted Neoteric with advanced flight
training for the Albuquerque, New Mexico Police Department.
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The
Department’s hovercraft has successfully completed numerous difficult rescues
along the White and Wabash Rivers … here’s an article about their most
recent success …
Mt. Carmel Register
Oct. 7,
2015
by Marcus Smith
Hovercraft called in to rescue
stranded boat
MOUNT
CARMEL- Wabash Emergency Management Agency (WEMA) had to call in Hazleton’s
White River Water Rescue and its hovercraft to rescue a stuck pontoon boat on
the Wabash River Monday morning.
Shawn
Lane, of Fairfield, and Bill Woodall, of Albion, went out to do some fishing
before having engine troubles and becoming stuck south of the boat ramp by Twin
Rivers Restaurant.
Woodall
said the motor stopped running and the pair drifted down river until they
became stuck.
Gerald
Brooks, WEMA coordinator, said the depth of the river was so shallow that they
couldn’t get a rescue boat close enough to the stranded craft to help.
“Not
the best thing to do, going out on the river when it’s this shallow,” he said.
Initially,
Brooks thought the people might have to be pulled from the craft, and a plan
would have to be devised further down the road to tow the boat in.
“The
boat might have to sit there for a while,” Brooks said.
White
River Water Rescue from Hazleton, Indiana was called in to assist with its
hovercraft.
Mike
Ellis, White River Township Fire Chief, said the plan was to raise the motor on
the pontoon boat out of the water, get the boat floating downstream and tow it
to a downstream boat ramp.
After
raising the motor out of the water the boat began to drift down river before
hanging up on another set of rocks.
The
passengers of the boat could be seen rocking the boat back and forth trying to
break free.
When that
didn’t work, a tow rope was thrown from the pontoon boat to the hovercraft.
With one
of the passengers of each craft holding on to the rope, the hovercraft was used
to break the pontoon boat free, and then tow it to a private boat ramp downstream.
Read how Mike Ellis and first responders around the world use their
