Posted: Fri, 25 May 2012 02:30 PM - 16,805 Readers

By: Ignacio Garcia

A busy holiday weekend can spell trouble for boaters on Lake Travis, but some new watercrafts could help cut response times in half for one area fire department.
 
For EMS staff, drownings and other medical emergencies are top of mind on holiday weekends like Memorial Day and other busy weekends. But a common water leisure vessel to most boaters can actually be a lifesaver for the Pedernales Fire Department. Two new personal watercrafts are the newest addition to the department's pilot emergency response program.
 
"The whole northern part boundary of our district is Lake Travis; so we cover a substantial part of it and so were required to respond to water emergencies on the lake," said Lt. Kyle Swarts of the Pedernales Fire Department.
 
These watercrafts will launch this weekend, manned by trained emergency personnel. The ability to launch quickly and travel 60 miles an hour will be critical and could save lives.
 
"We figure on our boat a normal response goes 30 miles an hour so what would take us 20 minutes to get to on our boat is now only going to take us ten minutes to get to on these things", adds Swarts.
 
But response time can be jeopardized by current lake conditions and other human factors. The water is still pretty low out here on Lake Travis and that can create problems for a lot of boaters out here this weekend especially the ones that are in from out of town. They run the risk of running a ground and often times they don't even know where they are in case of an emergency Water emergencies or boaters in distress contribute to many 911 calls. These first responder will be able to arrive first and take action accordingly.
 
Roger Wade of the Travis County Sheriff's Office said "The first one there assesses the situation and notifies all the other agencies what's going on that way we can gauge what the response should be."
 
Swarts adds "The benefit to the community is that were going to be able to provide a much better level of service on the lake especially during the holiday weekend."
 
The watercrafts were donated by a Georgetown area water sports dealer, thus keeping the budget to operate them at a minimum.