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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
EMILY newest beach lifeguard
Device already rescuing swimmers
Westerly, R.I., Fire Chief Louis Misto holds the lanyard attached to EMILY in a demonstration earlier this month. (MICHELLE R. SMITH / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
WESTERLY, R.I. -- Think of a lifeguard and you might conjure up images of sunburned teenagers working a summer job. A new and relatively inexpensive life-saving device could change that.
Meet EMILY, a remote-controlled lifeguard. It looks like a buoy, but it's a small watercraft fitted with a flotation device.
It can go up to 35 kilometres an hour and can get to people quicker, and in some cases more safely, than any human.
It's being used by a handful of communities. Last month, it was used in its first rescue.
"In the day and age of shrinking budgets and the availability of personnel, this is just another thing we can use," said Joshua Williams, chief of the Depoe Bay Fire District in Oregon, which performed the rescue with it July 15.
"It's proven itself by saving a father and a son. It's really all the proof that we need."
EMILY stands for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard.
It's a little over 1.2 metres long, weighs 11.3 kilograms and costs about $10,000. It's made by Hydronalix, a Green Valley, Ariz., company established in 2009.
If a swimmer is struggling, a lifeguard or anyone else can put battery-powered EMILY in the water and, with a remote control, send it through even rough waves to help. Some locations attach an emergency radio so they can instruct panicked swimmers on what to do.
EMILY can't bring swimmers back to shore, but it can keep them safe until rescuers get there, or be attached to a rope so rescuers can pull EMILY and anyone holding on back in.
In Los Angeles County, the lifeguards made famous by the TV series Baywatch use EMILY to shoo people away from rip currents, said Rori Marston of Hydronalix.
EMILY doesn't replace a lifeguard. Someone must be on shore to operate EMILY, and lifeguards have skills EMILY can't replicate. Also, it can't be used if a swimmer is unconscious.
Louis Misto, chief of the Misquamicut Fire District in Westerly, said he was skeptical but soon changed his tune.
"When you're talking about getting right into the surf line, where most of these drownings or rescues take place, EMILY is going to be one of the most useful tools," he said.
Westerly bought two EMILYs this summer after Barbara Stillman, who runs a beach resort, proposed the idea. Over the years, she has jumped in to help distressed swimmers when lifeguards are off duty.
"They're so panicked that they push you down," she said.
She has been trained on how to use EMILY for the next time that happens.
"I could run over there and grab EMILY and put a rope on her, throw her in the water, and bring her in myself," Stillman said.
"It's an awesome tool," Stillman said. "I know all it's going to take is one life. Then, to me, it's worth all its value."
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 18, 2012 A24
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