Long Beach Fire Department Marine Safety helped seven people aboard a boat that sustained moderate damage after colliding with the breakwater Friday evening.
Monitors from Marine Safety received a distress call broadcast from the 30-foot vessel around 9 p.m. July 3.
The boat remained operational and was not taking on water, according to the Long Beach Fire Department. Marine Safety rescue boats located the boat at the east end of the Long Beach Breakwater, a 2.2-mile-long, man-made rock barrier, and escorted the vessel to the public dock near the 400 block of Shoreline Drive.
“Our Marine Safety department, they monitor the distress channel so that got our rescue and fire boats responding to the breakwater quicker. So it’s just an extra layer of listening and community engagement that we have, just in case for water-related calls,” said Capt. Jack Crabtree, the fire department’s spokesperson.
Once at the dock, Long Beach firefighters evacuated those on board and transported two women by ambulances to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The U.S. Coast Guard also responded and assisted with the incident.