(La Porte, IN) - A new fire department rescue boat in La Porte has already been put to good use on several occasions.

 

The over 20-foot-long boat obtained last year was placed along the shoreline of Pine Lake for the first time late in the season last year.

 

La Porte Fire Chief Andy Snyder said one of the first rescue calls made with the boat involved a water skiing accident causing a man to experience partial paralysis.

 

Another early rescue call included an individual suffering a broken leg after falling off a dock beside a boat. Snyder said both victims were still in the water when reached by firefighters. 

 

Just recently, the boat capable of traveling up to 40 miles per hour sped across the water to Stone Lake to put out a trash can fire moving toward a wooded area.

 

Fire Chief Andy Snyder said a fire truck would not have been able to get close enough for hoses to reach the flames with water. Instead, water was discharged from the boat, about 75 feet away from the fire, to douse what was becoming an increasing threat.

 

“It looks like a trash can back in that area had been set on fire and that it extended to the ground cover of the woods around it. It was well beyond what our hoses would reach from a truck to get back to it,” Snyder said.

He said the boat also has hoses for firefighters, if necessary, to deliver water to a burning structure along the shoreline.

 

The cost of the boat was just over $100,000. Snyder said the previous boat was smaller, much slower, kept at one of the fire stations, and then taken to the water. The new vessel remains docked at Unity Park to increase response times during the summer.