Staff Report
OSWEGO, NY – The Oswego Fire Department made a rescue in the Oswego River this afternoon (Aug. 18).
The call was received from the 911 Center at 4:38 p.m.
Firefighters from the west side fire station responded with the department’s 20-foot aluminum jet-drive boat to an area just north of the Bridge Street bridge where they found Dennis O’Leary, 47, of Oswego, clinging to a buoy.
He had been kayaking in the Oswego River when the craft tipped over spilling him into the water.
He was unable to re-enter the kayak and floated downriver with the current clinging to the boat.
A caller from the Pontiac Terrace apartments on West First Street saw him in distress in the water and called it in to 911.
Captain Mike Cutro said that O’Leary was not injured, but was unable to swim back to shore because of the strength of the current.
Firefighters had reached O’Leary by 4:45 p.m.
The rescue boat brought O’Leary to the city-owned dock behind Coleman’s Restaurant where he was examined by paramedics, but not transported to a hospital.
Also responding to the call were the Oswego Police Department and the US Coast Guard.
A Coast Guard crew retrieved O’Leary’s kayak further north in the river where it had been swept by the current.
Five OFD personnel responded to the incident.
All units were back in service by 4:55 p.m.
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