Fireboats 2 & 3 rescued and participated in rescuing 14 people stranded in the Potomac River Monday and Tuesday. No one was seriously injured in three incidents in which boats capsized, tossing their occupants into the river.

At around noon today, Fireboat 3 was dispatched to the Fort Washington Marina in Prince George’s County for the report of several boats capsized with people in the water. What firefighters Hank Romero and Mike Carey found were three overturned canoes and eight people in the water. Two men fishing from a bass boat were able to pull two teenagers aboard, but five other teenagers and one adult remained in the water. Romero and Carey fished the remaining canoeists out of the water, checked their vitals and found them to be in good health.

Yesterday, Fireboats 2 and 3 were dispatched on two incidents that resulted in six people being rescued. The first was in the Potomac near the Naval Research Lab around 2:30 pm. Both boats responded with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Harbor Patrol to two sailboats that had capsized. Four people were clinging to the 16-foot crafts when rescuers arrived. The MPD pulled two people to safety while the Fireboats, staffed with Freddy Clarke, Walter McClusky, D. DiPietro and Carlos Braxton, pulled out the other two. All were in good health.

The second incident was reported an hour later just off Hains Point, where a man and his 10-year-old son were thrown into the water while they were fishing. Both the MPD and Fireboats responded to find a johnboat swamped and two people in the water. MPD pulled the pair out, while the firefighters checked their condition and found them to be in good shape. Their boat was righted and pumped out. It was able to leave the scene under its own power.