NORWALK — The city’s marinas lately have become full with yachts, personal fishing vessels and speed boats.
For Lt. Scott Rywolt, a veteran Norwalk firefighter who helps lead the department’s marine unit, the growing fleet means just one thing: An upcoming surge in recreation on the Long Island Sound.
“I’m expecting a busy year,” Rywolt said. “Fuel prices are high, so I could be a little off on this, but everybody’s got their boats in the water now.”
The marine unit, which operates a pair of boats that are not unlike floating fire engines, is assigned to respond to medical, rescue, fire and hazmat calls in Norwalk Harbor and along the city’s lengthy coastline.
With the summer season fast approaching and record temperatures this weekend, the unit’s specially trained firefighters have spent the last several weeks preparing to rescue distressed boaters and extinguish fires on the city’s more than two dozen islands.
“We are here to save lives, protect property and preserve the Sound,” Rywolt said.
To that end, Rywolt said he has spent several weeks coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard and officials from nearby municipalities in preparation for the summer uptick in water activity.
He has taught CPR courses to local boating clubs and met with island caretakers to ensure they are on the same page in the event of an emergency.
“We plan for the worst and hope for the best,” he said. “We have been growing our relationships with other agencies and the people we may be responding to in order to make us more efficient.”
For Rywolt, running the day-to-day operations of the marine unit is less a job and more of a passion. The 20-year veteran, along with a team of navigators, has devoted thousands upon thousands of hours to mastering the art of water rescues and marine firefighting.
The unit operates two rescue boats: A 24-foot privateer and a 38-foot vessel powered by a twin-diesel jet engine that can travel up to 35 nautical miles per hour, or knots.
The larger craft, which is named for the late firefighter Robert L. Bedell, can hold up to 300 gallons of fuel and can pump 2,000 gallons of water a minute from a series of mounted and remote-controlled turrets.
“New York’s fire boats deliver something like 50,000 gallons of water. But we don’t have high rises off the water. So for our purposes, it’s more than adequate,” Rywolt said.
A large number of the marine unit’s emergency calls involve boats that have run aground and become stuck in shallow parts of the harbor. But occasionally firefighters are called to more harrowing scenes.
In 2020, for example, both fire boats were deployed to put out a fire that engulfed a 33-foot yacht after an explosion. The blast threw six people into the water, and all were rescued.
Rywolt speaks with pride when discussing the daring rescues. He is particularly proud of the time a firefighter swam more than 150 yards in a wetsuit to rescue a victim the fire boat could not safely reach.
But crews have reported more enjoyable moments on the water. They were surprised a few years ago when several humpback whales appeared offshore.
“Some people pay money to do what we do,” Rywolt said. “We get paid to do it.”
The marine unit is staffed by firefighters assigned to the Van Zant Street station, the oldest in the city. When water-related calls come in, the four-member crew races to nearby Veterans Memorial Park where the fire boats are docked.
If the call involves rescuing someone in need of medical treatment, the firefighters will ask paramedics to wait with an ambulance just offshore at the park or at Calf Pasture Beach.
Firefighters are not the only local public safety agency with a presence on the water. The Norwalk Police Department also operates its own marine unit with a pair of police boats and a jet ski.
Among other responsibilities, the police unit patrols the waterways and enforces boating and fishing violations on the Sound. According to the department, the unit generally responds to about 250 assistance calls and makes more than 100 arrests each year.
According to Harbor Master Bruce Lovallo, the city has received a wave of interest from boaters hoping to secure one of the city’s several hundred mooring spots. But he’s forced to tell each applicant the same message: All spots are taken.
“I get calls every day. People are even calling me from Huntington, Long Island, to see if they could moor their boat at a mooring in Norwalk,” he said.
Lovallo said he attributed the increase, in part, to a desire among people who have felt hemmed in by the pandemic and are desperate for recreation. He said that interest has led to an influx in new boaters, including many with virtually no experience navigating the harbor.
“This day and age people are just buying a boat, hopping on it and going out,” he said.
Rywolt said he encourages new boaters to take an online state-approved safety class before hitting the water. He also said they should always remember to pack a first aid kit, warm clothes, sunscreen, radio, fire extinguishers and a cellphone.
Most importantly, he said, boaters should be aware of the weather forecast and be familiar with how the changing tides impact the harbor. He noted that several areas that may appear passable during low tide are actually too shallow to navigate through.
“There’s a lot of places that you can get really jammed up in,” he said. “I suggest before you venture off on your own, you take somebody who’s got some experience and knows these waters because you’re gonna wreck your boat or get yourself hurt.”