Fire Departments' Ever Growing Responsibilities
In recent years, the pressures on Fire Departments have increased as their roles and responsibilities have expanded. In most cases their missions have expanded beyond simply putting out fires and rescuing stranded cats in trees. The days of the bright shiny red truck with a bunch of ladders and firemen running through town is no longer.
As life becomes more technical and complicated, so too does the role of the local fire department. Today's departments have haz-mat teams, specialized equipment for fighting forest fires, ice rescue apparatus, and yes boats in some cases though not often enough. The increase in boating, improved water access for activities such as kayaking, fishing, and swimming, the higher incidence of flooding and natural disasters, and added congestion along waterfronts, has brought an increasing need for rescuers to have apparatus that can respond to water related calls. This has taken on even greater prominence for those departments located along the Coast – who have been asked to fill in for the United States Coast Guard as they focus more on Homeland Security.
In some cases, departments have responded to this increased demand by developing a Marine Unit or Dive Team. Often times they make due with donated boats or other town department's boats (harbormasters, etc), but as they often find, it isn't ideal, really doesn't work, and isn't safe. Just like they don’t use a pick up truck with a pump and a couple ladders to respond to a building fire, departments realize they can't just take any boat to respond to water related emergencies.
As funding becomes available many departments turn towards acquiring a boat built specifically for the mission that they can be assured of safety, functionality, reliability, and most importantly usefulness. Departments that do their research always find that that boat is a RIB.
At RIBCRAFT we pride ourselves in building professional grade RIBs specifically for fire departments that meet their rescue and response needs.
For things to think about when looking to buy a rescue/fire boat for your department check out this posting from March 3, 2008.
