(The Grade)– The brand new Lakes Area Fire Boat has arrived just in time for the Memorial Day Weekend.
Arnolds Park/Okoboji Fire Chief Steve Dulin says the state-of-the-art craft arrived in the lakes area around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
An engineer with the company that supplied the pump for the boat, along with the boat’s manufacturer, Boston Whaler, also arrived Wednesday to begin training firefighters on its operation.
Dulin says the boat has a pumping capacity of 1,500 gallons of water per minute…larger than most land-based trucks.
Dulin says the boat was also designed to respond to medical emergencies on the lake, and that special provisions were built into it for that purpose.
Even though the new boat has arrived, fundraising continues. Dulin says they’re still about 25-thousand dollars short of their goal.
The new fire boat replaces one that was retrofitted. Dulin says the new boat was designed specifically as a fire & rescue boat.
