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With local fires sometimes taking place across a lake, should a fire department have a boat ready to take firefighters there? 

At Electric City’s July 14 council meeting, Public Works Director Jarred Armstrong brought up the idea that the Electric City Volunteer Fire Department should have a boat. 

While discussing the Fourth of July weekend, Armstrong mentioned a boating accident that took place, as well as fires that burned near SunBanks Resort and as Barker Canyon, incidents requiring responses via boat. 

Armstrong commended Fire Chief Mark Payne for taking emergency medical technicians to the boating accident on his own pontoon boat, the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife helping with a boat for the fire near SunBanks, and even a citizen helping with a boat in the fire near Barker Canyon, noting that the department isn’t always that lucky to receive that assistance. 

Armstrong noted that there have been multiple incidents in the past requiring a response by boat, and that sometimes that requires waiting for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office to respond out of Ephrata with a boat, costing precious response time to an incident. 

A boat ready for response, “would be a great investment for the fire department,” Armstrong said.