LAKE WINOLA, Pa. — One look at it, and you know its name is Airboat 12, but the Lake Winola Fire Department members know it lovingly as The Beast.
"It's a Holly four-barrel, so you got four barrels of gas feeding into this engine, 100-octane fuel."
It's a 700-horsepower NASCAR engine, but that's only part of what makes this rescue boat unique and perfect for the job.
"We've tried jet skis. We've tried rock boats, and nothing would really do the job that we wanted it to do," said Lake Winola Fire Chief Eugene Dziak. "We are partnered up with Germania Dive and Tunkhannock Dive, so typically, if they're going out, we're going with them."
There's no propeller that goes into the water. This 22-foot-long, eight-foot-wide aircraft-grade aluminum boat is powered all by the propellers in the air.
"You steer it from the air from the prop coming through the fins and that's what steers it," explained Dziak.
Before we could take it out on the water and see it in action on the Susquehanna River in Falls, we got suited up —first in a dry suit to keep us from getting wet, along with boots and a life vest.
The airboat is extremely loud, so headphones offer protection and also allow us to communicate while out on the water.
Lt. Nate Evans serves as the lookout and lets us know if there are any big rocks ahead in shallow waters.
The boat can go up to 80 miles an hour. We didn't go that fast, but we went fast enough and took it up onto land—one of the biggest advantages of this watercraft.
There's a pedal and a shaft the driver uses to accelerate and turn. First responders have to give a lot of stopping room in a boat like this, too, especially if they're responding to someone in the water.
Luckily for us, this was only a joy ride and a way to get a closer look at something that could end up coming to your rescue.