In summers past, the St. Paul Fire Department owned two boats capable of rescuing people or recovering bodies in the Mississippi River.
But when one of the boats turned up cracked and damaged beyond repair in the fall, the department had to go boat shopping.
The Fire Department has the estimated $80,000 it will cost to buy a replacement, but the new boat won't be in the water this season. The one remaining boat is now handling all Mississippi River emergencies in St. Paul for the Fire Department.
The potential for slower emergency response times worries a City Council member and some firefighters. The leader of the firefighters union also questions why the department didn't move faster to get a new boat.
"The river is a dangerous place, and as long as we're charged with the task of responding, I want to do it properly," said City Council Member Pat Harris, whose 3rd Ward includes several miles of waterfront southwest of downtown. "We need to get a new boat. It's something that's justified and critical."
Fire Chief Doug Holton says having just one boat is not ideal, but he doesn't think response times will be dramatically affected.
"It's one of those things that was completely out of our control," he said of the boat's cracks. "It's unpredictable when a piece of equipment stops working. We're committed to replacing it."
Before it cracked, Boat 19, a 21-foot Boston Whaler bought in 1987, was docked at the Watergate Marina in Crosby Farm Park. It responded to emergencies on the Mississippi River, generally between the Ford Dam and Interstate 35E bridge.
Boat 15, a 28-foot Boston Whaler purchased in 1995, is docked at the St. Paul Yacht Club. Including travel time from Station 6 at 33 Cesar Chavez St. to the boat, it could take 20 to 25 minutes for the boat to arrive at Hidden Falls, which was in Boat 19's response area, said Assistant Fire Chief Dave Pleasants.
The river also is patrolled by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, which has eight boats.
The St. Paul Fire Department has a mutual aid agreement with the Minneapolis Fire Department, which has five boats.
In an average year, Boat 19 was called out five to 10 times and Boat 15 is summoned 10 to 15 times, Pleasants said, but most instances are false alarms a report of a person drowning turns out to be someone swimming, for example.
Because Boat 19 didn't have a fire pump, it couldn't put out boat fires or grass fires on the river's banks. Boat 15 has a pump, and the new boat will too, Holton said.
The department is preparing to start the bidding process for a new boat. Holton said he couldn't estimate when it will be purchased, but he hopes it will be this year.
Pat Flanagan, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21 president, wonders why bids weren't put out last fall or at least earlier this year.
Holton said that's because the money for the new boat only became available in the last two weeks when bids to replace other equipment came in lower than expected.
Staff writer Robert Ingrassia contributed to this story.
Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.
Distributed by the Associated Press
