SOUTH PORTLAND — A $1 million Department of Homeland Security
grant given to the city of Portland has netted South Portland $95,040 of its
own to protect its side of the Fore River and Casco Bay.
The money, including $76,000 to the fire
department for a Department of Environmental Portection-designed skiff and
$19,040 to the police department for dive training and equipment, was accepted
by the City Council at its March 6 meeting. The sub-grant requires no local
match.
“With the number of marinas and petroleum tank
farms we have in our community, having no real water access of our own for the
fire department is somewhat concerning,” said City Manager Jim Gailey, urging
councilors to take the money, which they did unanimously.
The 24-foot by 8-foot aluminum skiff will be
used primarily to pull containment booms kept at the seven petroleum storage
facilities along South Portland’s 14-mile coastline, using a Honda 150 engine.
“It’s in no way a fire boat, it’s a work boat,”
said Fire Chief Kevin Guimond.
“For the past seven years, I have been working
with our waterfront partners on a protection and response plan for a variety of
potential emergencies within the harbor,” explained Guimond in a Feb. 22 memo
to the council. “One deficiency identified was the department’s ability to
fight petroleum fires in a terminal or on a vessel in port. Another deficit was
the ability of our first responders to deploy environmental control measures
immediately.”
“DEP will also be able to utilize this boat at a
moment’s notice to get an initial view of any spill in our city, instead of
transporting their vessel down from Bangor,” said Guimond at the March 5
meeting. “We’re hoping to have this vessel in the water from May to October.”
The skiff also may be used as a base of
operations for the police department dive team in case of an event at one of
the marinas, or by the city’s transportation department to move floats at the
Thomas Knight Park boat landing.
“One area of concern is that we have a large
number of private vessels on our marinas on a year-round basis – several
residents live on their boats 12 months a year – and we have no platform to
work off of,” said Guimond, citing fuel and sewage spills, as well as
underwater searches, in addition to a boat fire, as possible incidents for
which the new skiff would serve as a command center.
The boat will be mounted with a small water pump,
said Guimond, to help battle small boat fires. However, any major waterfront
blaze will continue to be fought by the Portland and Casco Bay Lines tugboats,
which South Portland equips with firefighting foam, using funding from area oil
companies.
Now, the only water vessel owned by the fire
department is a rubber raft called “The Zodiac,” seized by the police
department as evidence more than 20 years ago.
“It is undersized for our needs and has a small
leak,” said Guimond. “It has outlived its usefulness.”
“I spent many hours in the Zodiac,” said
Councilor Tom Blake, a former firefighter. “One thing I was always sure of was
that it was deficient, as far as what we needed to serve our community.”
The police grant will be used to buy four “dry
suits” and associated gear used to protect divers in “harsh, abrasive or
contaminated water.” The money also will pay for fins, ankle weights, two
underwater cameras and two “lift bags” used to bring evidence to the surface.
In addition, the grant covers $1,000 for training and certification of officers
by the Professional Association of Dive Instructors.
“During the past four years, we’ve got four
officers certified to the Search & Rescue for Public Safety Divers level,”
said fire department Lt. Frank Clark. “We are currently in the process of
consolidating our resources here with the Portland Police Department [dive]
team, so we are trying to keep our equipment and training in line with what
they have.”
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