PORT CLINTON, Ohio — First responders in Ottawa County face a unique challenge thanks to being situated right along Lake Erie.
With the addition of water-based emergencies came Ottawa County Sheriff Stephen Levorchick's desire to upgrade the tools available at the sheriff's office.
The solution came from an interesting place.
The county recently purchased an amphibious off-road vehicle built by Ukrainian company SHERP. The vehicle is designed to travel on literally any surface, at any time, during any season.
"We have a lot of swamp area, a lot of hunters go out and maybe get lost or get stuck. Of course, winter is good too because it can go out on the ice and it does float. So if we do go in the water or the lake we can climb back up on the ice," OCSO Chief Deputy Brad York said. "We had a hunter who at one point became missing out on the Toussaint River, and this would have been a beautiful way to go retrieve him."
The Sheriff's Office was awarded a $210,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to purchase the SHERP, along with a trailer and towing vehicle.
The SHERP can seat up to eight people. It has room for a full basket stretcher, can hold 15 gallons of diesel inside of each wheel rim, and the tires can be deflated and inflated on the fly for any off-road condition.
"This will, in no way, replace the need for boats. This vehicle will be a complement to our boats," Levorchick said. "It will be used in ice rescues and other needs where the use of a boat would not be realistic."
"You can tell it's floating a little bit, and there's no rudder so you have to use the tires," York said. "But it does move pretty good, and it gets through mud and all kinds of terrain."
With Ottawa County being comprised of roughly 320 square miles of water, most of which is marshlands inaccessible to traditional emergency vehicles, the sheriff's office believes this new vehicle will quickly become an indispensable asset in saving lives.
"We're hoping that we don't have to use it," York said. "But if we do, we have the means to get out there to rescue people."
About half a dozen members of the sheriff's department are now fully trained to operate the SHERP and it is ready and waiting to get out for the first time to serve the Ottawa County community.