Eckerd College Search and Rescue (EC-SAR) is a student volunteer maritime search and rescue team. EC-SAR provides its services free of charge to the

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

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 i ...

area of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, from its station on the

Eckerd College Eckerd College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. Founded in 1958, part of the campus is waterfront (area), waterfront and beach on Boca Ciega ...

campus. EC-SAR works alongside local

EMS Ems or EMS may refer to: Places and rivers * Domat/Ems, a Swiss municipality in the canton of Grisons * Ems (river) (Eems), a river in northwestern Germany and northeastern Netherlands that discharges in the Dollart Bay * Ems (Eder), a river o ...

services and the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

. 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 Sunshine Skyway Bridge, officially referred to as the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, is a pair of long beam bridges with a central tall cable-stayed bridge. It spans Lower Tampa Bay to connect Pinellas County (St. Petersburg, Florid ...

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 United States Coast Guard, Coast Guard, 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. * Groundings 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. First responders typically include law enforcement officers (commonly known as ...

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 Awards and decorations of the United Stat ...

, 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