25-04-2025
Daphne firefighters rescue families by boat during severe flooding, receive Smiles Behind the Shield Award
DAPHNE, Ala. (WKRG) — It's been more than two weeks since major flooding shut down roads in Baldwin County after heavy rain made its way to the Gulf Coast.
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A video shows three Daphne firefighters navigating a rescue boat through Spanish Fort neighborhoods during the flash flooding that trapped people in their homes earlier this month.
'We were able to get in contact with the family,' Capt. Joseph Staska said. 'It was two adults and a child, and then later on, we ended up coming in contact with a couple more individuals as well.'
In all, 11 people and a dog were rescued on the Eastern Shore that night. Helping out surrounding agencies is something Daphne Fire is used to doing.
'They know what kind of materials we have, training we have, and sometimes they need us to supplement their training and expertise,' Staska said. 'So they come to us, we go to them.'
Our Smiles Behind the Shield winners, Capt. Joseph Staska, engineers Grant Everhart and Tyler Harrison said the rescue boat is a fairly new piece of equipment for their department, a vital tool to help save lives on the Eastern Shore.
'It just started about three years ago, so we're learning and as we learn; we go out, and we go like to our neighboring departments,' Everhart said. 'We were called at Robertsville the other day. We provide that service. So if you have a water emergency, whether it be flood or you're in a boat accident or anything, you call and we're going to come.'
'It's awesome to be able to serve the citizens of Daphne and help them any way we can,' Harrison said.
got a closer look at their fully loaded boat.
'It's a 15-foot Inmar. It's an inflatable with a rigged bottom,' Everhart said as he showed us around.
It may look small, but it fits 10 people.
'We utilize this in flood water situations because we can actually take it off the trailer by hand and then we can launch it in rougher water on the causeway,' Everhart said. 'Most of the time we go out there it seems to be when it's bad weather, so this boat can take on water then drain through the hole called scuppers, so that allows us not to sink.'
There's a black bag at the front of the boat that holds things like life jackets, helmets, headlamps and binoculars with an EMS bag and oxygen tank attached to it.
'It's proved worthy,' Daphne Fire Chief LeAnn Tacon said. 'We had situations where there were people needing to be rescued out on the water, and we couldn't get to them, so that's when we went to the mayor and council and said, you know, can we get a boat? And it's worked well. I mean, we've used it quite a few times.'
Since March 2022, 23 people and three dogs have been rescued.
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'I'm proud of these guys, they take it seriously and train a lot with it,' Chief Tacon said.
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