Brand new sheriff’s boat is here

Bigger. Faster. Built to endure. And with a lot more firepower—as in a pump that can shoot out 1,500 gallons of water per-minute, three times the amount that’s now available to fight a fire at the water’s edge.

Bigger. Faster. Built to endure.

And with a lot more firepower – as in a pump that can shoot out 1,500 gallons of water per-minute, three times the amount that’s now available to fight a fire at the water’s edge.

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Department took possession of its new public safety boat, “Sentinel,” Monday morning at the Port of Friday Harbor. Funded by a $600,000-plus federal grant and built by Burlington-based Munson Boats, the “Sentinel” and its arrival in Friday Harbor signal an end to a two-year bureaucratic odyssey for the Sheriff’s Department and the beginning of a new era of public safety out on the water.

“I am elated to see this come to fruition,” Sheriff Rob Nou said.

The sheriff’s department will maintain and operate the “Sentinel” in partnership with the San Juan Island fire department and Shaw Island fire department. Previously, officials of the fire districts on Lopez and Orcas and the San Juan Emergency Medical Services, opted out of joining what initially had been conceived of as a maintenance and operation agreement between all the county’s public safety agencies.

“We have always been a partner with the sheriff’s office and we will continue to be,” said Orcas Fire Chief Kevin O’Brien. “We haven’t worked out the details yet of how we will use the boat.”

Nou estimated that maintenance of the department’s fleet will be about $100,000 per year – although some of that cost will be allocated to the San Juan Island and Shaw Island fire departments and to operation grants from a number of outside agencies that benefit from the department’s activity out on the water, such as the Washington Department of Licensing, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Homeland Security.

In addition to greater water-pump capacity, the Sentinel is equipped with twin Volvo diesel engines, is 38-by-12 feet in size, has a 7-foot wide “bow ramp” and can reach 40 mph at top speed, Nou said.

San Juan Island Fire Department Chief Steve Marler anticipates a three to four month training period before firefighters are fully familiar with the equipment and operation of the “Sentinel” and are ready to use the boat in responding to a fire.

The “Sentinel” is also expected to replace San Juan Island Fire Department’s fireboat “Confidence,” however, as well as the sheriff’s department’s 25-year-old Boston Whaler, both of which have been deemed to be past their useful lives, according to public safety officials.

The “Guardian,” a 32-foot boat acquired in 2005 at a cost of about $260,000 and a replacement value of about $400,000, will replace the Boston Whaler and be stationed at Orcas. The county Public Works Department also operates a 35-foot aluminum landing-craft workboat and two 20-foot boats.

Construction of the vessel was funded through a Department of Homeland Security grant. Under terms of the grant, the “Sentinel” was expected to be in the water and ready for use by mid-August.