Seattle Fire unveils new rescue watercraft ahead of July 4th

Seattle Fire unveils new rescue watercraft as more people head to the shore

Seattle firefighters are hoping the launch of new rescue equipment will turn back a troubling rise in water deaths.

SEATTLE - Seattle firefighters are hoping the launch of new rescue equipment will turn back a troubling rise in water deaths.

King County has seen elevated drowning numbers over the past four years, with the number of deaths increasing more than 60% since 2018. Now, Seattle firefighters respond to about 70 water rescues a year, according to recent data from the Seattle Fire Department.

As more people head to the shore for the 4th of July and summer heat, Seattle Fire's new water vessels couldn’t come at a better time.

The watercrafts were gifted to the department from the Seattle Firefighter Foundation. They were unveiled to the public on Monday, and the department tells FOX 13 the watercraft will make response times quicker.

"The advantage of the watercraft is they can go into the shallow where larger vessels cannot, so we can get where we would expect someone might be in distress," said Seattle Fire Captain and program manager for the rescue watercraft Dietrich Hauge.

The vessels also allow first responders to cover a larger area.

"We can get into the bays and marina, and we can go pretty fast in the lake, it takes us 11 minutes to get to the most northern part of the lake," Hauge said.

The watercraft will be staged at the Leschi North Marina, as the location is central to Lake Washington. It will be part of an overall network of vessels that can make rescues on Lake Washington and Lake Union.

Every firefighter operating the watercrafts will also undergo 20 hours of training and be prepared for all environments.

"There may be a lot of boats on the water, the wind may be kicking up, or the weather foul or it may be night," Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said.

The watercraft will also help extend the range of the rescue swimmers. Swimmers are currently trained to swim 300 feet out from the shoreline.

"This creates almost limitless possibilities," Scoggins said.

Kirkland and Shoreline have similar vessels, and the addition of Seattle Fire’s watercraft will help further close the gap of safety on the lake.

The watercraft are part of a pilot program that will be evaluated after its first year.