The city of San Rafael, California, purchased a fireboat, they named Confidence, in 2016.[1][2] The 27 feet (8.2 m) boat, built in 2003, was purchased for $50,000, from San Juan Island, Washington, by the San Rafael Fire Foundation, a local charity.[3] The Foundation then donated the vessel, to the city.
In 2020, San Rafael purchased a new boat Fireboat San Rafael and Confidence was sold to the City of Berkeley Fire Department as the agencies first fully equipped fire suppression watercraft.[1]
She was built in 2003, arrived in California in October 2016, and underwent maintenance.[2] Testing and training began in March, 2017 and she first went into service in May of 2017.[4] She is currently in service out of the Berkeley Marina as a resource of the Berkeley Fire Department performing search and rescue, as well as fighting fires.[2]
Operational career edit
The Confidence was deployed on December 11, 2018, following an industrial accident on East Marin Island, part of the Marin Islands National Wildlife Refuge, located off San Rafael Bay.[5] Construction worker Shawn Frederick Moore was buried in rubble when a retaining wall collapsed. Firefighters were able to unearth his body, but he had already died.
References edit
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Adrian Rodriguez (2016-10-14). "San Rafael Fire Department adds fire boat to fleet". Marin Independent Journal. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05.
With their own boat, local firefighters will be able to immediately respond to emergencies in San Rafael Bay. First-responders have had to call Tiburon or Southern Marin fire districts to use their boats, and sometimes they rely on the U.S. Coast Guard, Gray said.
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"San Rafael firefighters test new fireboat". Marin Independent Journal. 2017-04-04. Archived from the original on 2017-04-06.
The 2003 Washington state boat was purchased last August for $50,000 by the San Rafael Fire Foundation, which donated it to the department.
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"Fireboat Confidence Returns to San Rafael 3/16/2017". San Rafael Fire Foundation. 2017-03-16. Archived from the original on 2016-10-28. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
After several months of work at KKMI Marine in Pt. Richmond, fireboat Confidence returns to San Rafael. Next stage is crew training prior to becoming fully operational.
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"San Rafael fireboat Confidence". Marin Independent Journal. 2017-04-04. Archived from the original on 2017-04-06.
The department plans to put the boat into service in May.
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Kristine Houck (2018-12-11). "Construction Worker Killed In Accident On East Marin Island". Patch magazine. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
Fire crews responded at 2:45 p.m. with their fireboat "Confidence." Firefighters found the worker trapped beneath the collapsed wall had died from his injuries.