The Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Fort Oakland Police Department recently sendtthree of their members to training to become certified in Air Boat Operations. The training was sponsored by Love County Oklahoma Emergency Services and was provided by the U.S. Marines out of Florida. the Air Boat training they received provides a Federal Department of Interior Certification to operate the Air Boat. chief of Police Cal Stoddard sent one member of his department and Fire Chief Pat waldroup sent two members of the Fire Department. the class was made up of 20 individuals from five different agencies including: Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Oklahoma game and Fish, love County and Fort Oakland Police and Fire. “the air boat has been in the inventory of the police department for several years, but we have never had a certified operator,” Chief Carl Stoddard said, “during the recent flooding in Kay County, we received several requests to assist in rescues, but could never respond because of the lack of an operator. The Tonkawa Tribe saw the need and funded the training. we will now be able to respond to the calls to assist in water rescues.” From left are firefighter Joe Begshisown, Fire chief and Vice President of the Tonkawa Tribe Pat Waldroup, Fort Oakland Officer Cameron Hurd and Chief Carl Stoddard.
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