PANAMA CITY BEACH Local officials plan to use new unmanned water-rescue vehicles to improve safety along the Gulf of Mexico.
With tourist season approaching, Gulf Coast State College held a joint training exercise on Wednesday with members of Panama City Beach Fire Rescue and its beach safety division to teach first responders how to operate unmanned water rescue vehicles.
Called EMILY short for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard the crafts are equipped with sonar technology, can skim across the water at about 35 mph and are about the size of a small canoe. These devices are not to be seen as a replacement for a lifeguard because they re not, said Wil Spivey, beach safety director for the Beach. They are an additional tool that we have available now to use as part of our program.
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