By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
WALDPORT – The next time there’s an emergency in Alsea Bay it shouldn’t take Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue firefighters very long to respond.
The district – after six years of trying to find a quicker way to launch its 25-foot rescue boat – installed a floating (and submersible) dock this week at the Port of Alsea.
Until now, firefighters had to hook a truck to the boat trailer at the main station downtown, drive to the port, navigate the sometimes crowded boat ramp to launch the rigid hull inflatable boat. That usually took a frustratingly slow 15-20 minutes, said Capt. John Townley, who spearheaded much of the project.
Now, the boat sits on a series of 144 plastic cubes at the marina. When firefighters arrive they hit a switch, two underwater tanks fill with water to sink the platform enough to launch the jet boat.
“All we have to do is get our gear on, come to the Port, hit the (pump) valve and away we go,” said COCF&R Chief Jamie Mason.
When finished, firefighters drive the boat onto the platform just as they would a trailer, hit the pump to fill the tanks with air and the whole thing rises out of the water.
But a home for the district’s rescue boat was years in the making.
The Port of Alsea and COCF&R talked about a boathouse for the when the Port was planning for its 2018 bond to replace the marina. But former chief Gary Woodson didn’t follow through, and by the time the bond passed and construction began there wasn’t enough money left to add the structure estimated to cost $200,000.
Mason was in Astoria several years ago when he spotted a system made by JetDock of Cleveland, Ohio used by the Astoria Fire Department. He asked Townley to pursue the project.
“It’s been six years,” said Townley, who was recently promoted to captain. “I started researching, saw the JetDock system and thought ‘This will work for us’. I just never gave up on it.”
Jim Visconti, one of two JetDock employees who spent Monday and Tuesday assembling the system, said their products are used most often by the U.S. military around this country and overseas.
“We’ve been all over the world with this – Japan, Africa, Indonesia,” he said. “Everywhere there’s water.”
But finding $40,000 to pay for the structure was not so easy.
The district operates on a tight budget, often relying on grants and using second-hand or surplus equipment from other fire agencies. Mason applied to The Ford Family Foundation of Roseburg and won a $25,000 grant. To meet a Ford deadline, the COCF&R board then approved spending $15,000 from district reserves if they could find a way to replace it. Now the Waldport Moose Lodge is planning ways to fundraise to replace the $15,000, Mason said.
The boat will sit on the floating dock except when extreme weather is forecast. It has a waterproof cover and a motion-activated security camera keeps an eye on everything from a nearby piling.
“This is what we needed – to be able to deploy quickly and keep the boat out of the water when it’s not being used,” Mason said.
