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Sunday, June 21, 2015

Fire/Rescue Boat Discussed At June Garden City Fire Board Meeting

Chris S. Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  June 18, 2015.  The Garden City Fire District governing board held its monthly meeting.  Present were members Howard Pope,  Jenny England, and Randall Knight.  Absent were Brian House and Perry Wakefield.
There was substantial discussion of the Fire/Rescue boat being prepared for operation.  It is a nearly 31 foot long Trophy model and is being modified to include large and useful lights, radar, side scan sonar, GPS, and night vision goggles.  If funds permit, hand-held infrared sensing devices will be purchased.  It will have radio capacity to communicate with all similar rescue craft and law enforcement in Utah and Idaho and will be berthed in the water at the Utah State Marina, and trained fire department personnel will man it, following a set of operating procedures being developed.  The boat will have a water cannon mounted for fire suppression and will have all basic EMT equipment on board to handle nearly every medical emergency.  The boat should be functional and on duty at least by the 1st of July.  The boat may need a power upgrade to increase boat speed as saving time in rescuing people in the water can save lives before hypothermia becomes fatal.  Tests will be run on speed and if more power is needed the fire chief will begin to seek grant support.  The boat currently has two outboards with a total HP of 300 but it may take significantly more engine HP to meet ideal speed.
In other issues, GRAMA requests for the fire department should be sent to board member Randall Knight, who has completed all the training.  The request form is available online.
Six individuals completed and were certified at the firefighter II level.  It was a busy month with several medical calls, 2 wildfires,  extrication from an accident (the one with the boat on top of the car), a number of fire pit inspections and minor repairs to some of the department equipment, all of which have been completed.

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