Newtown and Southbury fire volunteers worked together to locate and rescue a boater a 911 caller said capsized and was thrown into the chilly Housatonic River around 11:30 am on May 13.

The individual reportedly capsized somewhere north of the Bridge End Farm Lane neighborhood and floated about a mile downstream before he was able to get onto a thickly wooded section of the shoreline.

Part of the final stage of his rescue was captured on video by The Newtown Bee. View that brief clip below:

As the call was developing and information was being relayed from a 911 caller who initially reported two boaters in the water and in distress, Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue and Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters worked to identify where the victim was in the moving current. At the same time, an unidentified Southbury firefighter launched his own pontoon boat and was able to locate and rendezvous with what turned out to be a lone victim.

Local fire crews, along with Newtown Volunteer Ambulance and Paramedic responders, initially headed to stage in the Riverside area near Lorenzo's Restaurant. But they were diverted to a staging location at waterfront playing fields on Bridge End Farm Lane, where Hook & Ladder launched its own inflatable rescue craft.

At the same time Southbury fire and police were able to get a visual fix on the victim, who may have been floating down river holding onto his capsized boat.

The male boater, now in the water, ended up getting to the shoreline about a quarter mile south of the Edgelake neighborhood where he was met by the Southbury volunteer and briefly evaluated by Sandy Hook firefighters who hiked to the wooded location.

The victim was then brought north on the pontoon boat to a dock where he was offloaded and transported to a waiting ambulance by a Sandy Hook Command vehicle.

Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue was also dispatched on the call, but was canceled once the boater was reported safe. Upon being turned over to local EMS, the boater was stabilized and transported to an area hospital for further evaluation.

During the call, Newtown responders faced an all too frequent and frustrating situation involving emergency radio dead spots, and at one point were forced to turn to cell phones to complete their emergency communications.

This issue of dead zones that have plagued emergency responders, especially in areas along the river between Bridgewater and Oxford, is in the process of being addressed with a comprehensive emergency communications upgrade, funding for which was partially approved by the Legislative Council just last Wednesday, May 6.