North Whidbey Fire and Rescue is adding a familiar vehicle to its fleet.
The boat, which will be purchased from the Island County Sheriff’s Office for $16,000, has already been in part-time use by the fire district. Mike Brown, deputy chief of NWFR, said that if they had an emergency marine call, they would often use that boat if the sheriff’s office wasn’t using it.
But the sheriff’s office, after getting a $225,000 grant through the Homeland Security Grant Program, will be purchasing a new vessel.
Brown said, however, that they couldn’t share the new boat because the grant specifies it has to be “strictly a law-enforcement boat.”
“We started considering this purchase as soon as we found out that we weren’t going to be able to share their new boat,” Brown said.
The boat they’re purchasing, approximately 20 years old, will be sold along with the trailer, pickup and all electronics except for the law-enforcement radio.
“There’s some minor repairs that need to be done on the trailer and some basic upkeep stuff on it,” Brown said.
However, the boat itself is in good shape, though it will need to be rinsed thoroughly after being used in saltwater, which can be corrosive.
“To replace that boat with a new search and rescue boat is probably anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000,” Brown said. “It’s an older boat, it’s a used boat … it’s probably not necessarily the most optimum boat we can have for marine search and rescue, but it’s something we can use for now until we can get financially capable of replacing it down the road.”
Brown said he researched other options for used marine search and rescue boats but that the market is small and the price would be near $100,000.
Brown said the hope is they can replace this boat in about five years with a new boat.
The price of the boat is a result of appraisals being done to determine its value. Brown said in Tuesday’s NWFR board meeting that the value was estimated at $17,000 to $18,000, and considering the repairs needed for the trailer, $16,000 was determined to be a fair price.
Currently being kept in Station 22 on Taylor Road in Oak Harbor, Brown said they hope to be able to keep it in the water from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
“Our plan is to keep it in the water at the pier at Cornet Bay during the summer time,” he said, “when we have a lot of marine responses.”
The district has another marine search and rescue boat, kept at Station 25 on Heller Road, which is closer to the waterfront in Oak Harbor. This second boat will be used primarily for the northern emergency responses.
“We respond a lot to marine search and rescue; it’s something that’s part of our commitment to the community, and it’s just something we’re doing to be able to keep up with that commitment,” Brown said.
