Naples jet crash, one year later: new details on emergency response

Sunday marks one year since a jet crashed after its pilots attempted an emergency landing on I-75 just outside of Naples.

“Your mind goes back to everything that happened that day,” said Heather Mazurkiewicz, public information officer with the North Collier Fire Rescue. “I think about the fact that there weren’t more lives lost.”

At the forefront of everyone’s mind as we near the anniversary are two fallen heroes: pilots Edward Daniel Murphy and Ian Fredrick Hoffman.

“To be able to maneuver that plane to where they put that plane down, not on I-75,” said Mazurkiewicz. “If they would have gone a few 100 more feet, they would have ended up in a residential area. To us, they’re the heroes.”

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As Mazurkiwicz explained in an interview with WINK News reporter Amy Galo, many things aligned to save the most amount of lives possible.

In addition to the pilots’ quick thinking, there was that of flight attendant Sydney Bosmans.

“For her to have the presence of mind to recognize the fact that their their primary way of getting off of that plane had been blocked by fire,” said Mazurkiewicz. “And she was able to get get her passengers safely out through the luggage compartment. You know, that’s amazing.”

Then there was the quick emergency response time.

“Just by the luck of the day, our crew, the North Collier Air Rescue team that we run in conjunction with Collier County Sheriff’s Office, happened to be doing some training,” explained Mazurkiewicz. “So they were at the hangar. They were all suited up. So when the call came in, they were literally on-site within 90 seconds of that first call coming in.”

This meant within just 90 seconds, first responders had something vital: information.

“The ability for them to be over top of the scene and give an amazing scene size-up so that all of the agencies that were responding had a much better idea of a where the plane was located,” said Mazurkiewicz. “To be able to have that information as the crews were making their way in… was pretty incredible.”

She added: “It wasn’t necessarily the amount of time that was saved, it was just the information. And in those situations, information is the most valuable asset that we can have.”

There were at least 100 emergency responders at the scene that day.

“All of these entities came together to work seamlessly for one goal, and that was to make sure that we continued to keep the public safe,” said Mazurkiewicz. “This isn’t a typical call that we go on.”

Now, almost a year later, to look back at the deadly crash is to look forward and prepare for the next call.

“When the time comes for us to respond for things like this, we’re ready to go,” said Mazurkiewicz.