A new firefighting tool

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, October 5, 2004

STANWOOD – Dozens of doughnuts, piles of spaghetti, persistence and community generosity launched a shiny new rescue machine in Stanwood.

Volunteer firefighters with Fire District 14 served dinners, sold raffle tickets and drummed up $19,000 in donations to replace an aging boat with a sturdier one for the department’s water rescue program.

Six years later, the boat is afloat.

“I was beginning to wonder, but I knew we would make it happen,” volunteer firefighter Lt. Darrel Grays said.

The department relies heavily on its 32 volunteer firefighters, the majority of whom work full-time jobs.

The district’s two fire stations are manned around the clock, meaning that volunteers often go straight from firefighting to their day jobs.

“This department functions because of the dedication of the volunteers,” said Capt. Christian Davis, one of eight full-time district employees.

The new boat is another example of what they give to their community, Davis said.

“It’s more the way they’ve raised the bar. It really was an effort driven by the people of the community for the community,” Davis said.

The district covers the rural areas outside Stanwood and responds to about 1,300 calls a year. Up to 14 of those calls are for water rescues, Davis said.

“I think it’s invaluable. We don’t respond to a large volume of water calls, but we do pluck people off the banks who are close to hypothermia,” said Lt. Fred Ziele, president of the Warm Beach Firefighters Association.

Firefighters rescue lost hunters on the mud flats, distressed boaters from Port Susan Bay and Warm Beach, and swimmers from the Stillaguamish River.

They’ve also fought fires from the boat and assist the Tulalip Bay Fire District and the Snohomish County sheriff’s dive team, Davis said.

The district had a boat for a number of years, but needed a sturdier boat because it’s likely to be called out more since the U.S. Coast Guard is focusing more on port security, Davis said.

The new boat, an 18-foot Silver Streak, once served as a whale-watching boat in Alaska. It has a floating basket that will allow firefighters to raise victims out of the water, Davis said

“It’s just a wonderful feeling when you can help people, especially when they’re your neighbor,” Grays said.