USCG Dolphin To The Rescue... Again

The Coast Guard rescued two people from an aground houseboat in the Napa River, Friday morning.

Napa Police Department contacted Coast Guard Sector San Francisco command center watchstanders at approximately 6 a.m reporting a houseboat with two passengers aboard had run aground.

Sector San Francisco watchstanders launched a Coast Guard Station Vallejo 29-foot Response Boat-Small crew and a Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco Dolphin helicopter crew to assist.

The Dolphin crew arrived on scene at approximately 8:30 a.m. and lowered their rescue swimmer, who hoisted both passengers and transferred them to Napa County Airport to awaiting emergency medical services and Napa Police Department personnel.

“This rescue wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the well-coordinated teamwork of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco,” said Lt. j.g. Joel Norton, the co-pilot aboard the Dolphin helicopter.

“The Coast Guard small boat that was also on scene and local fire and ambulance services that took care of the survivors after we dropped them off at Napa County Airport.”

The MH-65 Dolphin is a twin-engine, single rotor helicopter with strengths of speed, flexibility and integrated electronics package. The dolphin is the Coast Guard's standard shipboard-deployable aircraft and operates from all flight deck-equipped cutters. Since 2007, the entire fleet has been equipped with new engines that add 40 percent more power and airborne use of force capabilities.

FMI: www.uscg.mil