FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – The Fernandina Beach fire chief said the department will be better prepared to handle situations like the gangway collapse on the Fourth of July.
RELATED: Gangway collapse injures several at Fernandina Beach Fourth of July fireworks celebration
The gangway collapse sent visitors scrambling at the Fernandina Harbor Marina. Dozens were taking in the fireworks when suddenly, they were in waist-deep water.
“We were trying to hurry up because we didn’t know if the rest of it was gonna go or not,” Lori Davidson said, who was on the gangway during its collapse.
Several people said there was a loud crash before people went running. With everyone’s attention on the fireworks and in the dark of the night, people said they did not know what happened.
It’s something the Fernandina Beach Fire Chief Jeremy Holmes said that they will take into account moving forward.
“We’ll go through the entire scenario and what transpired and then how we can better be equipped for emergencies in the area,” Holmes said. “It also opened our eyes to know a lot of people were saying, ‘Oh there was a shooter,’ things like that and it obviously was not those things but it scared enough people to be able to see what that reaction would look like.”
Witnesses on the gangway said they heard creaking right before they were suddenly in the water. The noise sent people in the area running for safety.
Holmes said about a dozen people were checked out on the scene, but there were no serious injuries and no one was taken to the hospital.
