CIFR boat: shrewd purchase or fancy toy?

CIFR crew prepares to launch at Camano Island State Park. The boat was purchased with funds from a voter-approved bond. PHOTO BY JEREMIAH O Camano Island Fire and Rescue’s (CIFR) new boat carves quite the wake, both on the water and in conversation.

And why wouldn’t it? It’s a bright red 28-foot North River with an enclosed cabin whose roof bristles with Garmin radar, light bars, and radio antennas. An inboard pump sucks in seawater and pushes it through two water guns – one on the port gunwale and another chrome monitor shining on the bow.

Twin Yamaha 150 horsepower outboards effortlessly push the boat up on plane and zip it across the water at 40 knots. In calm seas the ride is silky; in rough water the hull design glows, providing an incredibly stable platform to work from.

“I’d have thought you’d run 300s on that,” said one observer, referring to the boats engines.

“We were told to keep the price under $100,000,” said Darin Reid, assistant chief.

“$100,000?” the man echoed. “I’d have thought $250,000.”

Reid smiled. “Well, we got a bunch of stuff donated – that helps.”

In actuality, the man’s estimate was accurate, even low. Including the inboard pump, the boat’s value hovers near $300,000. It’s actual cost?

“To date,” Reid said, “the boat has cost us $122,033.”

That price includes the pump, water guns, nozzles, electronics, rescue and lifesaving gear, and outboards – everything on the boat. The boat itself came in at $97, 878, Reid said.

“The commissioners were very adamant the boat cost no more than $100,000,” he added.

The money to buy the boat came from a voter-approved bond for buildings and equipment. Although CIFR could have purchased the boat from any company with a government services account, they chose to send the project out to bid. In this way, they were able to get the best available price.

Then, the scrounging started.

A Snohomish County grant afforded them the $46,000 water pump, and the city of Portland, Ore., donated the port side water gun.

Rescue gear was acquired through donations or by picking through the department’s surplus.

Electronics were donated – and they’re not cheap.

“We’ve got three radios on the boat,” Reid said, “and each one prices out at almost $8,000 if we were to go buy them.”

“The small stuff will nickel and dime you,” he continued. “A nozzle is $800. People don’t think about it, but that’s the way it is.”

All the nozzles on the boat were surpluses or donations.

Many of the boat’s features serve double duty. The water guns can also be hooked to hoses and run ashore to fight fires or refill tenders and engines. The boat’s bow design and relatively shallow draft allow it to be nosed against the shoreline, where it pumps water from an endless supply.

The boat is also has search and rescue capabilities and is set up for patient transport and basic life-support.

The pump can be used as a bilge to remove water from swamped and stranded vessels.

When not in the water, the boat rides on a long, low-slung trailer and can be launched even in low tides.

When the boat was finished, Reid invited a Coast Guard representative to look it over. What did we miss? Reid wanted to know.

Nothing, the representative responded.

Despite the boat’s capabilities and relatively inexpensive price tag, some residents have questioned the purchase.

It does, after all, make the department look like “big spenders,” according to some. Was it really necessary?

Aside from the obvious fact that CIFR services an island, Reid still feels the boat was a wise purchase.

Since 9/11, he said, the Coast Guard’s focus has shifted from water rescue to water security. Most water rescues – this area has 35-60 each year – are now performed without the Coast Guard. Their response time, from either Bellingham or Seattle, is 45 minutes to an hour.

“Why are we in the marine rescue business?” Reid asked. “Because no one else in the area is.”

In Reid’s opinion, marine rescue has to be all or nothing.

“We either gear up to do it well, or we get out,” he said. CIFR opted to gear up.