Flares Spotted from Smuggler’s Beach Fishing Pier Save Three...

SOUTH YARMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS — Night fishermen at Smuggler’s Beach Fishing Pier spotted three red flares rising over the water and quickly turned a quiet evening into a successful rescue of three stranded boaters off West Dennis.

Shortly after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, anglers on the pier first saw a single red flare offshore near West Dennis Beach. Many assumed it was fireworks. But when a second flare shot up, followed by a third, one woman on the pier grew concerned that someone was in serious trouble on the water. She immediately called police.

Yarmouth police and firefighters responded without delay, launching a police boat and a fire/rescue boat. The Coast Guard was notified and began preparing a vessel from Chatham. Dennis police and fire crews searched the shoreline near West Dennis Beach, while a TowBoatU.S. crew in Bass River — already preparing to call it a night — heard the call on their emergency radio and quickly launched to join the search.

The flares had come from a disabled motorboat located off West Dennis Beach. The Yarmouth Fire/Rescue boat reached the vessel first and found three people aboard. No one was injured.

The boaters later told Hyannis News that their cellphones had died with no way to recharge them. With no other means of communication, they had fired their emergency flares — the signal that ultimately brought help.

One of the boaters told Hyannis News they had been out late fishing for striped bass and had already caught at least one keeper. With their cellphones dead and no way to recharge them, the flares were their only way to signal for help. It was fortunate that people were still fishing off Smuggler’s Beach Fishing Pier Wednesday night — otherwise the three boaters would still have been floating around out there in the dark.

Thanks to the sharp eyes of the fishermen on the pier and the fast, coordinated response from multiple agencies, the boaters were safely brought to shore.

[HN VIDEO – PRESS PLAY]