Local rescue boat named in honor of Christopher Meadows

Posted: Aug 16, 2011 9:42 PM by Monica Quintero
Updated: Aug 17, 2011 5:31 AM

A local EMT who lost his life in the line of duty gets a special tribute

A search and rescue volunteer, who died while giving of his time, is honored in a permanent way. A special tribute today for Christopher Meadows. A local rescue boat is named in his honor. Meadows was killed while responding to a medical call at the Oceano Dunes Memorial Day weekend of 2009. The 24-year-old lost control of his ATV which landed on top of him.

"He would be so proud to have his name on the back of this boat," said Tim Meadows, Christopher's father. He says his loved one had a passion for helping others. "To have a permanent memorial like this vessel with his name on it helps keep his memory alive," said Tim.

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution to make the name of the boat official and his family was given a special plaque. "It's a plaque to memorialize the Christopher C. Meadows patrol boat for Lake Nacimiento," said Tim.

The patrol boat is well equipped to save lives. "We're able to put this in the water and actually float under the person," said Todd Steeb, Marine Enforcement Unit. There's basic life support equipment on board and some of the newest technology in patrol rescue. "It's called structure scan sonar. It always has side scans so it allows us to look below into the sides of the boat and see what's underwater," said Steeb.

Steeb worked closely at times with Christopher Meadows. In fact, he came up with the idea to name the boat in his honor. "We get paid to go out there and put our lives on the line everyday and we take that responsibility very seriously," said Steeb. " But these people that are out there volunteering every day they don't get compensated at all, they're out there doing it just because they want to help their community."

"Every day they get in the boat and see Chris's name and hopefully, that will motivate them to do good things," said Tim. Speaking of motivation, Christopher had lots of it. He started out as a business major at Cal Poly, decided he really liked emergency care and became an EMT. He worked for San Luis Ambulance.