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US Coast Guard highlights life-saving skills at San Diego open house

SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — Local members of the U.S. Coast Guard have been busy the past two weekend. They performed a pair of rescues off our coast bringing several people back to shore after a boat fir...

SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — Local members of the U.S. Coast Guard have been busy the past two weekends. They performed a pair of rescues off our coast bringing several people back to shore after a boat fire and crash. Sunday, they hosted an open house to end Fleet Week.

Little Slaton didn't want to get out of a Coast Guard helicopter. His mom Brittney brought him to Coast Guard Air Station San Diego for their open house.

"This is great,” said Brittney Gregg. “It's awesome they can open this up for us to take a look at everything. You don’t get to do that every day.”

The open house comes after two mass-rescues for guardsmen.

Last week they assisted the Mexican Navy with a rescue when a fishing boat caught fire about 30 miles south of San Diego. 18 people were in the water.

“We're that light at end of the tunnel and we can pick them up, we can get them to care safely,” said U.S. Coast Guard LTJG. Robert McConnell.

A U.S. fishing boat heard the call and went to help in the incident off the coast of Rosarito.

“Something like 20 people is a lot to handle so if they hadn’t responded the way they did, it would have been different scenario,” said McConnell.

The Coast Guard stressed it shows the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the community they serve.

“We're working day and night to help the community, whether that’s helping people [in] vessel distress or maritime security threats that we respond to,” said U.S. Coast Guard fireman Taylor Bacon.

Friday evening, a 332-foot yacht collided with a sport fishing boat about nine miles off the coast of Imperial Beach.

Once again, the Coast Guard responded to airlift a seriously injured man, while the rest were taken to shore by boat.

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