First firefighting boat of its kind launched at Lake Tahoe

Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District christened Marine 24 earlier this month, giving Lake Tahoe its first year-round firefighting boat. At a cost of nearly $500,000, the vessel is able to fight fires from on board as well as piping water from the lake into water tenders.

The boat can send water 300 feet, but the main function will be to pump water into pipes at the shore that water tenders will hook up to.

"It is a floating fire hydrant," said Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Eric Guevin during a Nov. 13 ceremony at Edgewood Tahoe.

The new boat is wider, longer and has more horsepower than a similar boat on Fallen Leaf Lake. That boat is what helped Guevin find what would work best on Lake Tahoe with the assistance of Fallen Leaf Lake Fire Chief Gary Gerren.

The christening and reception for the new fire boat was to recognize donors and members of the Fire Flow Initiative boat program. Donations from Bob and Nackey Scagliotti and Lisa Maloff got the program started.

A big problem for 128 Douglas County residents at Lake Tahoe is a lack of adequate fire flow (the quantity of water available for fire-protection purposes in excess of that required for other purposes).

Over the years, as the community has grown, homes have typically been built larger and closer together. If involved in a fire, one home could threaten many others as well as the surrounding forest.

The potential devastation was seen after the Angora Fire in 2007, which not only left entire neighborhoods smoldering, but also resulted in enormous amounts of ash and hazardous runoff into the lake, negatively affecting our water quality. To compound matters, emergency access to these homes is often very poor with narrow roads and limited turn a rounds for responding fire trucks.

The new fire boat will be at the scene of fires from the lake, adding one more layer in defense and protection and giving the community a better Insurance Service Office (ISO) rating.

Besides donations, funding for the TDFPD fire boat is provided by fees for service from the Fire Flow Initiative (FFI) program members. So far, there are four members, all who have paid $75,000 to get a pipe installed when their lakefront home was being built, or paid $200 per square foot of their major remodel.

Nackey Scagliotti, Camp Galilee, James Czajkowski and Chris Sauer are the inaugural program members with many more expected to buy in.

The program members will pay for the boat and equipment with their one-time payment.

Before the FFI, many lakefront homeowners didn't have traditional ways to get water to their home for water suppression. They'd have to pay for permits from TRPA, Army Corps of Engineers, NDOW and Nevada water rights in order to pull water to their homes from the lake for fire fighting purposes. They would also have to pay for pumps and maintenance.

"This is one less headache for homeowners," said Guevin.

“A comprehensive plan has been developed to aid firefighting in these areas without traditional fire suppression water supply," said TDFPD Fire Chief Scott Baker. "Currently we would send fire engines and a water tender (truck) to a fire event, all which can carry a very limited supply of water to the scene.

"The new boat will give our firefighters access to a much larger water supply pumped from the Lake in a safe and ecological manner. This new capability will directly save lives, property and our precious Lake Tahoe environment from catastrophic fire damage. ”

When not in use Marine 24 will be docked at either Zephyr Cove Resort or Round Hill Pines, depending on weather/lake conditions. Firefighters will be able to reach it 24/7, every day of the year.

Over the last 24 months, TDFPD has responded to 17 fire and rescue incidents on the lake. These include a fire aboard the historical Tahoe Queen and a dangerous water rescue which resulted when a boat sank in the dark of the night leaving four young tourists clinging to an ice chest in the middle of the lake.

Marine 24 has been designed with touchscreen GPS, Sonar, chart plotting 4G radar, remote controlled forward looking infrared system (FLIR) and a hydraulically operated bow door for water rescue efforts.

The Fallen Leaf Lake boat has FLIR and with it there were able to find a stranded hiker on the side of an adjacent mountain.

The new fire boat was built by Lake Assault Boats in their Superior, WI shipyard on the Great Lakes. A committee of TDFPD employees worked with the manufacturer over the past two years to design a vessel to meet TDFPD’s purpose and mission.

— See SouthNowTahoe.com for this and other stories.