Rescue boat deployed at Clinton Marina / LJWorld.com

A deadly boating accident at Perry Lake last year got officials with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical questioning how they would respond to a similar accident at Clinton Lake.

Their answer: Probably not as quickly as they would like.

Fire and medical officials are hoping to change that. Last month, the agency bought three new 16-foot, flat-bottom aluminum boats that will be equipped with fire and medical equipment.

The $78,000 purchase will allow the agency to station a boat in a slip at the Clinton Lake Marina for the first time, which likely will improve rescue times by 10 to 15 minutes, said Capt. Stan Ray, who is part of Fire & Medical's water rescue team.

"For a water rescue, that's considerably quicker," Ray said. "Especially if we're dealing with a situation where the water is cold. A few minutes is a long time to be in cold water."

A crash involving two boats on Perry Lake in August 2003 showed just how difficult it can be for rescue squads to get to a water accident in a timely manner.

According to dispatch records, it took Jefferson County emergency medical officials about 40 minutes to arrive on the scene of the crash, which killed one boater. Part of the delay was attributable to the fact Jefferson County officials didn't have a boat docked at a marina on the lake.

"That accident was something we looked at," Ray said. "That response time was pretty extended. We hope to be ahead of the curve here in Douglas County."

Megan Hiebert, owner of the Clinton Lake Marina, said she had been concerned about how a serious accident on the water would be handled.

The city of Lawrence recently purchased three new water rescue boats, one of which will be stationed at a slip at the Clinton Marina. On Friday, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical crew members from Station No. 3 moved the two other boats into the station bay, where those boats will be kept.

"I hope they never have to use it, but it is great to have them out here," Hiebert said. "They'll be able to do training out here and they'll know what to do if something happens. I'm really glad that they didn't wait for something bad to happen out here before they did this."

The department responds to approximately six calls per year at the lake; seldom do they involve life-threatening injuries, Ray said. But the department is preparing for an increase in activity at the lake because its popularity with boaters appears to be growing.

"I think you increase your chances for an accident as more boats are on the water," Ray said. "The thing with Clinton is that it's not a real large lake. A lot of the fishing and skiing areas overlap, and that can cause problems."

The other two boats the department bought are stationed at Fire Station No. 3, 3708 W. Sixth St. Those boats may be used for rescue operations on the Kansas and Wakarusa rivers, along with calls at Douglas County State Lake, Lone Star Lake and other bodies of water throughout the county.

Prior to the purchase, the department had only two inflatable boats, one with a motor and one without, that it used for rescue operations. The department kept those two boats because they are better equipped to deal with rescues involving ice or to respond to areas that are flooded.

The city received a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security that covered 70 percent of the $78,876 price tag for the boats and their equipment.