Sandwich firefighter recounts rescue of 9 from paddle boats and raft; group had drifted nearly two miles

By Alejandra Matos, Globe Staff

SANDWICH — Firefighters Tammy Pimentel and Dan Keane were on their way back from a routine day of training in the waters of Cape Cod Bay when they saw three teenagers on a paddle boat waving. People often wave hello to firefighters, but this was no ordinary wave. The teens were frantic, trying to tell the firefighters that they and their friends were drifting out to sea.

“We approached them, and they said their friends were too far out and couldn’t catch up to them,” Pimentel said. “They kept paddling, but they were going nowhere.”

On Thursday about 4:45 p.m., Pimentel and Keane helped rescue nine people from two paddle boats and an inflatable raft that had drifted nearly two miles from Town Neck Beach, carried by strong tide and winds.

According to Coast Guard officials, eight teenagers were out the boats and the raft when the tide pushed them out beyond the recommended 200 feet. The mother of one of the teenagers, who was standing at the beach, jumped in the water to try and pull the raft back to shore, but couldn’t and began to drift with them, too. Another mother called 911 from shore. The Coast Guard was dispatched, but the firefighters were already at the scene.

“We just happened to be out there, thankfully, at the right time,” Pimentel said.

Deputy Fire Chief Thomas A. Corriveau said that when there is a full staff, they send firefighters out to the water on their 21-foot rescue boat for training. This happened to be one of those days.

Pimentel said she was out on the bay familiarizing herself with the shoreline in case she were ever sent out for a rescue.

As a paramedic with the department, Pimentel does not spend much time at sea. In the 11 years she has been working at the Sandwich Fire Department, she has only been involved in a water rescue once — and that involved a small whale that got stranded on a beach.

No one in the group was wearing a protective flotation device, Pimentel said. No one was injured, but the situation was especially dangerous because they were not on a sturdy paddle boat or raft, she said.

“To them, they probably thought they would have been fine, but I don’t think they would have been fine,” Pimentel said.

Bryan Swintek , the Coast Guard Command Center Chief of the southeastern New England sector, said officials only knew the name of the mother who placed the 911 call and she did not want to talk to the media because everyone involved was still “pretty shaken up.”

Swintek said the group was given a “survivor debrief” after the incident, in which officers emphasized to the teens and their parents the importance of wearing flotation devices. He said they seem to understand that now.

Rescues like the one on Thursday are all too common during the summer months, Corriveau said, because beachgoers are often unaware of how swiftly strong tides and winds can sweep them from shore. Although the waters seemed calm Thursday afternoon, a strong afternoon wind and an outgoing tide pushed the group.

Corriveau said children with swim floaties often get pulled away from the beach, and parents try to swim after them, puting themselves in danger when they don’t have flotation devices.

The thing to take away from the rescue on Thursday, Corriveau said, is that beachgoers should come prepared with a flotation device, no matter how clear the day is and how calm the waters seem.

“Things can turn very ugly, very quickly,” Corriveau said. “The ocean is a beautiful and evil mistress.”