Fire Prevention Week
October 5 – 11, 2014
Grant will cover cost of department’s rescue boat
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Presque Isle Fire Department will be getting a new boat, following City Council’s approval of the purchase during their Sept. 3, 2014 meeting.
“Kim (Smith) was successful in obtaining her first major grant, which will get a rescue boat for the fire department. Everything’s paid for but the delivery,” said City Manager Jim Bennett.
Chief Darrell White explained where funds would come from to cover delivery costs.
“We got a call from the vendor. They sold another boat in the area, which will cut our shipping cost in half,” said White, noting, “in full disclosure, I’d like to ask for the same amount, which will allow me to buy other items — update life vests, oars, little things we might need to take care of. I just wanted you to know the price was reduced.”
White said the life vests run about $150-200 and are a type 3, designed for rescue purposes.
“They’re specifically made for rescue. This is a flat boat, with a 40 horsepower jet-propelled motor,” White said.
White indicated in a memo to councilors that “the fire department for many years has been without a rescue watercraft.”
“With Presque Isle having several large lakes, streams, rivers and other water sources, this has been a major concern for our department when responding to missing persons (believed to be drowned), water recover of persons, items or evidence from water sources or even to more easily access land structures or objects not easily achieved by other (land) means,” said White.
Over the last several years White said the department has been able to work with the Maine Warden Service who agreed to station a boat at the Public Safety Building.
“They did so for our use, with an understanding we would, in turn, transport the boat elsewhere for them if a need for it arose. Last year the wardens changed the boat housed with us to a large canoe, better suiting their particular needs, however this doesn’t meet the rescue needs of Presque Isle,” he said.
White said with the recent hiring of Smith as the city grant writer, he passed the department’s need and request on to her and asked her to explore any possible grant funding beyond the normal fire grants for which the PIFD usually apply.
“It was with exciting news I report Kim was able to identify a grant for which our request would apply. On our behalf, Kim applied for and was awarded the grant. Kim recently informed us she received a $30,000 grant check for a boat,” said White, expressing thanks to Smith for her effort in securing the funding for the new equipment.
“For public safety departments, such as the PIFD and Presque Isle Police Department, this is a major and much-needed asset to the city and public safety,” he said.
He described the boat for councilors.
“The boat is called ‘One Boat,’ built specifically for rescue operations. It has a large platform that allows room for up to six adults and/or equipment to move and work. It has an operator console and, with jet propulsion compared to propeller style,” said White.
According to White, it can operate in as little as three inches of water when conditions apply.
“The One Boat also provides safer water rescue in that the worry about persons coming into contact with the propeller are dissolved. The boat has a dive platform that allows responder/rescuer water entry easier and safer, as well as easier and safer victim or rescue personnel retrieval from the water. The boat comes complete with a trailer and is ready to go when it arrives from the factory,” said the fire chief.
The total cost of the boat was $33,802.75. White said of that cost, $3,444.75 was shipping cost from the factory in Mobile, Ala., to Maine.
“Working with Pat (Webb, finance director), we were able to identify $3,802.75 within our reserve needed to complete the funding for this project,” said White.
White said Rescue 8, which has now been taken out of service with the arrival of the new engine, had $5,500 in the reserve for potential replacement of its transmission but now that it is out of service, those funds are no longer required.
“We recommend reallocating $3,802.75 from Rescue 8 reserve and moving it to a ‘One Boat’ reserve account. The remaining $1,697.25 would remain in reserve for funding other grants we hope to apply for and receive in the future,” said White.
Councilors unanimously voted to reallocate $3,802.75 from the Rescue 8 reserve account to “One Boat” reserve account, completing the necessary funding to purchase the Rescue One Boat.
