$1.8 Million Penthouse for Portland Firemen Running Fireboat
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City of Portland wants to spend $1.8 million to build an apartment on the Portland waterfront for the 3 firefigters who man the fireboat full time. We just spent $3.5 million on a new boat and did not provide for housing acommodations on it.
No one from the press was at the City Finance committee meeting where the issue surfaced last night. So much for the Portland Press Herald keeping it eye on its namesake city.
The backup for this is one line of the 2009 Capital Improvement Plan budget (which list $1.3 million, but they allocated $500,000 last year of which they have spent $80,000 on enginnering, etc, and I was told total engineering and architecture is slated to be $350,000).
Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com
Better yet - they could have some of the old portable classrooms we still have hanging around down here... one per guy, even!
Hmmm... how about having them work 8 hour shifts so they can sleep in their own bed?
Hmmm... how about having them work 8 hour shifts so they can sleep in their own bed?
Nice idea, but it doesn't work that way. Firefighters and EMTs typically work wierdo schedules. When I worked EMS, I worked a 63 hour straight shift - sometimes you slept, sometimes you didn't, but you got your work week done in 2 1/2 days. That was for a private company with town contracts. Government-employed rescue workers don't work quite the same sched, but it's close (three days on four days off is typical) and that's part of what attracts people to the job (and keeps them sane) - lots of time off.
For my part, I'm pretty cheesed that no one at the PFD or on the Portland City Council thought of this before. The fireboat is an important asset in a port town like Portland, for a variety of reasons. Be that as it may: that no one thought to include crew quarters on this boat is an insult to taxpayers. So here's an idea: they used to sleep on the old boat. Fine. Weld it to the dock right next to the new one. It'll save 1.8 million, minus the cost of welding.
It's a stretch to believe that nobody thought of this housing problem in advance.
But Portland apparently is not alone. The town of Cumberland reportedly has been remodeling a house adjacent to its Central Fire Station as a sleeping dormitory for EMTs in its newly combined (and allegedly money saving) fire-rescue operation.
Oh, they thought about it. The original design of the fireboat included sleeping quarters, They were dropped from the plans along the way and the public was not notifed at the time. Heck the public never even was given the opportunity to vote to build the boat even though it exceeded the bonding threshold.
Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com
I suggested to the committee last night that the city could rent a room for them at the Hilton Garden Inn across the street cheaper than it would cost to build the penthouse. The argument back is that it would be two far away from the boat. They cannot leave the dock until additional firefighters arrive from other stations or Medcu if it is a med call, so time is not of the essence.
The chief said it would be impractical for them to run from another location in full turn out gear. They are getting on a boat and would have ten plus minutes while on the boat to get into gear that they should be leaving on the boat.
Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com
Where is the old boat?
This is nothing more than the same old political bureaucratic ruse of leaving something out to be sneakily let out later as an oversight. They knew all along and this is nothing more than a plan to fool the public as they usually do. This is the same scenario that many municipalities use to chip away at objections, if all these costs were brought out initially. It has been done so many times successfully that it is now a part of the game plan.
Wake up taxpayers, you are being used and abused and you do little more than grumble. Why do we only see Steve at these meeting raising objections to the wasteful spending? We owe him a debt of gratitude for his diligence and perseverance at these meetings.
Still docked somewhere in the harbor. Not sure what the plan for it is.
Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com
Maine's First Artificial Fish Habitat
Portland Press Herald
Councilors want cheaper quarters for fireboat crew
By TOM BELL, Staff Writer
September 4, 2009
PORTLAND — Two city councilors are questioning the Fire Department's $1.8 million plan to build new sleeping quarters on the Maine State Pier for the three-member crew of Portland's new fireboat.
. . .
The issue has emerged because the galley and sleeping quarters on the city's new $3.2 million fireboat are much smaller than those on its 50-year-old fireboat, which will soon be taken out of service.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=281088&ac=PHnws
This is the first recongition that there are actually crew quarters on the boat. They have previously been saying/implying that the new boat did not even have sleeping quarters.
Next, we will be told that fed regs don't allow sleeping on the boat.
Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com
No one from the press was at the City Finance committee meeting where the issue surfaced last night. So much for the Portland Press Herald keeping it eye on its namesake city.
Has Bill Nemitz written a column about this yet?
He was really interested in the Bishop's digs.
"The Fire Department's marine division has 12 firefighters. Three are on duty at a time, working two 24-hour shifts in an eight-day period. In the past, two crew members have slept in the quarters and one has slept on the fireboat."
If we changed them to 12 hours shifts, we would not have to house anyone.
Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com
Given the inability of the City of Portland to use simple math in so many ways your suggestion is
so right on! Will it ever come to that? I doubt it ? You have neglected to propose a committee to study the idea.
A separate group could look into the implications for the residents of the West end. And of course there must be implications for Bayside trail!
Fireboat damaged answering cry for help
By BOB KEYES, Staff Writer November 8, 2009
A duck hunter who rolled his kayak near Jewell Island in Casco Bay on Saturday night set off a chain of events that caused three rescue boats to run aground, including Portland's new $3.2 million fireboat.
There were no injuries, and the hunter who called for emergency help complaining of hypothermia was expected to be OK.
Less certain were the conditions of the boats.
This sounds a bit embarrassing. Don't the boats have top grade depth finders and warners?
Not to mention folks running them that are supposed to be aware of things like full moon coupled with astronomical low tides.
Good thing they hadn't built those expensive housing accomodations onboard, huh?
It is my understanding the coasties had problems too. Portland Harbor is a difficult place to handle a boat, especially when you get out of the marked channels. I am not sure I would be to quick to point fingers. Even with Ledge, charts can be wildly unpredicable in areas that have extreme tidal changes. Lets see how the critics would handle the situation. I suspect not any better.
Tony
Well I wasn't there but it said they hit a ledge on the way back, not during the rescue. With the electronics today it would seem that someone was not paying attention to where they were. It has been a while since I worked on an oil tanker but even back then we had paper charts that were pretty accurate, there are reasons you stay in the channel so to speak. As to alarms, yes you can set your depth sounder to sound if you begin to run out of water, maybe they shut it off during the rescue and forgot to turn it back on. But the more you go to sea the more chance you have to hit something, when I worked at the boatyard we loved the extra low tides, we were almost guaranteed to get some work out of it because someone thought the chart was wrong or they had taken the shortcut hundreds of times before. Heck once were headed into Chesapeake Bay and the Capt decided to cut a corner to save some time and voila we hit a 36' spot only problem was we were drawing 40', lucky for me I had all the charts up to date and there was no spill.
Fireboat off duty for repairs
An official hopes the $3.2 million craft will be back in service within a month.
By DAVID HENCH, Staff Writer November 10, 2009
PORTLAND — A marine surveyor will continue inspecting the city's new fireboat today to determine the cost and duration of repairs after the boat hit a submerged ledge during a rescue mission Saturday night.
"We're hoping to have it back within a month. It's a high priority for us," Fire Chief Fred LaMontagne said Monday.
In the meantime, Portland's retired fireboat – which the city intends to sell soon – has been pressed into service.
Fireboat crash probe to result in discipline
By DAVID HENCH, Staff Writer December 5, 2009
PORTLAND — An investigation into the accident involving Portland's new fireboat on Nov. 7 shows that its grounding on a submerged ledge, which caused $90,000 worth of damage, was preventable and will prompt discipline.
The results of the Fire Department's inquiry, done in conjunction with the Coast Guard, were released Friday by Fire Chief Fred LaMontagne.
Surprised to see $90,000 is not serious enough to be tested for drugs and alcohol. Seems like speed may have also been a factor as the damage to hull, prop and rudder are extensive. Looks like the pilot was not paying attention to where he was but another factor (and still no excuse) is that this boat many have a greater draft than the previous fire boat, meaning he may have made it over the rock in the past but with the new boat he couldn't.
Portland Forecaster
Portland requests bids for waterfront firefighter quarters
By Kate Bucklin
Dec 15, 2009 9:10 am
PORTLAND — The city is soliciting construction bids for much-debated new fire boat crew quarters planned for the Maine State Pier.
. . . , the council instructed Fire Chief Fred LaMontagne to look at less-expensive alternatives.
City Spokeswoman Nicole Clegg this week said asking for bids on the quarters originally proposed inside the Casco Bay Garage was part of LaMontagne's research into alternatives, to see if the $1.8 million quote was still accurate.
http://www.theforecaster.net/content/p-fireboatquarters-121609
Seems we are getting suckered on this one.
First, this better come in less than $1.8 million as they have already spent $300,000 on desgin and engineering. So when this comes in at $1 million, they will say, wow its cheaper, let's do it!
Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com
Portland Press Herald
February 25
New fireboat repaired, back in service after accident
By David Hench dhench@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
PORTLAND – The city's new $32 million fireboat is repaired and back in service, 3½ months after it hit a submerged ledge during a rescue mission.
. . .
The new City of Portland IV sustained about $90,000 worth of damage when it hit a rock in Whitehead Passage on Nov. 7, according to the city. The city had insurance but was responsible for a $25,000 deductible.
http://www.pressherald.com/news/new-fireboat-repaired-back-in-service-af...
Doesn’t any one check their facts anymore. It is a $3.2 million fireboat.
Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com
Why not purchase an RV and park it right there at the pier? That would be a whole lot cheaper than this big plan they have.
Posted: October 20
Accident damages Portland fireboat
By Edward D. Murphy emurphy@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
PORTLAND — The city's two-year-old fireboat was damaged last weekend for the second time when it hit something underwater during a navigational training run.
The City of Portland IV was on the far side of Fort Gorges from the city shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday when the accident occurred, Fire Chief Fred LaMontagne said .... The impact sheared off a shaft and damaged a propeller and the rudder.
I know this is a really stupid question but isn't there things called depth finders ?
My guess a depth finder would have been useless, if in fact it was a shallow spot by the time you read it on the depth finder you would have hit it. An educated guess is that the hit a log floating beneath the surface. With the high tides we have had recently there is a lot of stuff floating around (driftwood). Also some folks who own waterfront property love to pile their brush on the bank at lkow tide so it is floated out at high tide. Our local USCG just had the same thing happen to one of their boats, destroying an outboard.
Tony, those nautical charts are chock full of information. Each and every dot, dash, line, or legend means something. These are supposed to be professionals running a boat in their own backyard. I was 20 years old navigating a 180' buoy tender from South Carolina down to Puerto Rico and over to Tampa Florida, many times at night running along the coast in treacherous conditions. This was years before todays GPS units. The GPS on my IPhone is 10 times more sophisticated than the SatNav or LoranC we had. Unless there was a reason to take a short cut in an emergency there is no excuse for this type of accident.
As far as berthing, I lived on a 95' patrol boat for days at a time and there is no reason these FF can not live on their boat. I am appalled that employees of this city can spend the hard earned tax dollars on this type of housing. We have gotten to the point that everyone in city employment feels the need to live like a king at the expense of the common people.
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I suppose it would have been stupid to keep the old one that had beds beside the new one!
Move the thing to the Cruise ship terminal and let them bunk there. Really not much else is happening there until the city can con a pier for Cruise ships out of some developer ! The ten plus million building is under utilized!