Confidence (fireboat)
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
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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.