San Fran Crews Rescued After Fire Boat Capsizes
March 27--A San Francisco Fire Department rescue boat flipped over in the waters off Ocean Beach on Saturday during a training exercise, sending seven firefighters into the chilly waters, officials said.
The first reports of the capsized vessel came in around 11:18 a.m. in the water near the Cliff House toward the north end of the beach, said Jonathan Baxter, a fire department spokesman.
Five of the firefighters flung overboard were rescued by either Coast Guard or Fire Department crews and the other two were picked up by private vessels. Baxter said that all the firefighters were checked by medical personnel as a precaution, but none appeared to have suffered any serious injuries.
It was unclear what caused the boat to flip, Baxter said, and the vessel remained overturned in the water into the afternoon.
A spokesman for the National Weather Service said the closest buoy to where the boat rolled was measuring waves of roughly 7 feet and wind gusts of up to 26 mph.
An investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing, Baxter said.
Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale
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