Terre Haute Tribune-Star
September
2, 2017
By Howard
Greninger
Fire chief: Hovercraft are ‘perfect tool for this kind of situation’
An
amphibious craft built in Terre Haute is helping to rescue flood victims of
Hurricane Harvey in parts of Texas.
Mansfield
Fire-Rescue, located near Dallas, was deployed Wednesday to Port Arthur, just
south of Beaumont, Texas, to use a Neoteric Hovercraft.
“We have made over 40 rescues with the
hovercraft in the Mansfield incorporated area since we got the hovercraft about
four years ago and, since Wednesday, have made 15 to 20 rescues in the Port
Arthur area,” said
Mansfield Battalion Chief Jeff Smith.
It’s the first statewide deployment for Mansfield Fire-Rescue, located about 316 miles from Port Arthur, Smith said.
 |
Chris Fitzgerald, president of Neoteric Hovercraft Inc., stands next to a
hovercraft
his company is making for the Indonesian Police Force. Photo: Tribune-Star/Austen Leake |
The
department initially deployed four firefighters on Aug. 24 to serve in
ambulance crews to evacuate hospitals and nursing homes in Corpus Christi,
about 395 miles away, and in Victoria, about 278 miles from Mansfield, Smith
said.
When
flooding hammered Port Arthur, three swift water rescue technicians from the
department took the call for aid to Port Arthur.
“I talked to the guys there and they
said most of the rescue crews have flat bottom boats with propellers. But when
you get into 2 feet of water, most people being rescued had to walk 100 to 200
yards to dry land,”
Smith said.
“In the hovercraft, we can go right up
to their door, get them out and take them up onto dry land,” he said.
“It is the perfect tool for urban
flooding, as you can go from grass to mud to water to dry streets without any
problem,” Smith said.
“Most of the flooding we deal with is
street flooding from creeks and rivers. A hovercraft doesn’t make a wake, so it
is the perfect tool for this kind of situation. It makes a rescue faster and
easier.”
A
hovercraft is an amphibious vehicle that is supported by a cushion of slightly
pressurized air and is capable of traveling over land, water, mud, ice and
other surfaces. Hovercraft float on a cushion of air that has been forced under
the craft by a fan. This causes the craft to rise or lift. The amount of lift
can range from 6 inches to 108 inches, according to Neoteric Hovercraft, Inc.
Smith said
Mansfield Fire-Rescue bought the hovercraft in Terre Haute about four years ago
and underwent training at the Terre Haute firm. The driver, or pilot, then
undergoes another 10 hours of “flight time” to be certified to operate the
hovercraft by the department, Smith said.
Another
agency — Somervell County Volunteer Fire Department, in Glen Rose Texas — saw
the hovercraft in action and decided to buy one, Smith said. Mansfield and
Somervell County each manned hovercrafts for rescues from Hurricane Harvey,
Smith said.
“Those fire departments have been
using our craft for quite a long time,” said Chris Fitzgerald, president of Neoteric Hovercraft
Inc., a company that moved its manufacturing and offices to Terre Haute in
1976.
“The real tragedy is there should be
thousands of hovercraft for these rescues. They can do so much more than other
vehicles and fill the gap in amphibious transport, as hovercraft can
operate in fast-flowing water, in water full of debris or in shallow water,
places where boats have a problem,”
Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald
said he knew the Texas fire departments were gearing up as the departments last
week began asking for technical support or spare parts for hovercraft.
“All of those are our craft. It is
difficult to get excited as we have been in these situations for many years.
Even when Katrina hit, we had craft operating and in a mud slide in Oregon a
few years ago,” he
said. “We are sorry to see these
tragedies, but with global warming, we will see a lot more, unfortunately.”
In
addition to rescues, a hovercraft can also be used to collect information,
Fitzgerald said, which can be used by emergency command officials.
Hovercraft
can be used to assess impacted areas, discover what is needed, such as
medications, and how many people are affected. The hovercraft can then be used
to bring medicines and supplies to areas or transport those in need of
evacuation or medical attention, Fitzgerald said.
