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It was a great way to start off 2023 and a great way to start off the first Kiawah Island Town Council meeting of the year with recognizing the Town’s search and rescue team. Steve Jones with the FBI in Charleston came to the meeting on Jan. 10 to educate Council members and the community about the great work that the Barrier Island Ocean Rescue team does for the island.
He noted that in August 2022, the team underwent a week-long training session with the Hostage Rescue Team. During the week, they learned specifically how to hoist victims out of the ocean via a helicopter.
“You have to learn these skills, and then you have to practice them and exercise them,” Jones said. Luckily, Kiawah Island was a great location to practice these vital, life-saving skills. Jones was a former member of HRT and specifically worked as a mobility operator. In that role, Jones supported search and rescue functions. One of his main duties was to ensure the safety of swimmers. Jones is also a former police officer and actually worked in the past with the current Public Safety Director Craig Harris on the force in Mount Pleasant. Jones said that it is important to recognize the public safety sector and by having HRT training in the Charleston area, specifically on Kiawah Island, it allowed vital training to take place for not only the Barrier Island Ocean Rescue team, but also some members of law enforcement, fire and other public safety sectors. “Recognizing their efforts during that week in August shows stakeholders on Kiawah Island that the resources here are some of the best,” Jones said. “HRT doesn’t go anywhere and train with anyone. The Barrier Island Ocean Rescue team is very professional. We have used them for many years. They are extremely competent in their skills and they added value to our training.” Jones added, “Kiawah Island has made us a better team, a better organization and that is important because it is your community that we would serve in a time of natural disaster.” Jones started the recognition ceremony by giving Harris a certificate in recognition of exceptional support to the HRT mobility and tactile helicopter unit during the combat search and rescue exercise in August 2022.
Jones also recognized members of the Barrier Island Ocean Rescue: Michael Sosnowski, Rob Edgerton, Langdon Cheves, Patrick “Mikey” Doyle and Ian Butler. He also recognized Yvonne Johnstone with the Kiawah Island Resort, who he said was instrumental in helping to assist them with a place to land the helicopter and with conference space.
The Chief of the Barrier Island Ocean Rescue, Edgerton, said, “We are very proud of the relationship we’ve formed with the FBI and our local agency partners. These trainings offer a unique opportunity to exercise our specialized skill set as professional lifeguards and to support the HRT operators as they prepare for critical missions throughout the world.”
