By Richard Abshire
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2007 The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

DALLAS — Garland firefighters, who had handled emergencies on Lake Ray Hubbard since the mid-1980s, last fall went to the city of Dallas for better equipment.

In November, Garland Fire Chief Danny Grammer told fire officials in Dallas, which owns the lake, that the 16-foot, V-bottom aluminum boat that Dallas furnished his crews was too small and unsafe. He called the craft "the S.S. Minnow," after the ill-fated vessel on Gilligan's Island, and said his employees would stop taking lake calls unless Dallas let them use its new boat.

Dallas officials responded by putting the new, specially designed lake rescue boat into service.

They also installed a new crew, training Rowlett Fire Rescue to operate the boat and ending Garland's lake-search services.

"I guess they feel comfortable going with Rowlett and that's their business. It's their lake," Chief Grammer said. "My point was that we were not going to respond in their unsafe boat. And that's where it stands today."

Garland firefighters conducted four searches for people in the lake in 2005 and three in 2006. It's a duty that Garland, with the largest fire department among the cities on the lake's shore, had hoped to continue.

"Garland needs to respond to the lake because we're right on top of it," Chief Grammer said.

The new boat has powerful twin engines and is designed to provide stability when pulling someone from the water and over the side of the boat, a feat Chief Grammer feared might capsize the previous craft.

"We took over because the city of Dallas called us," Rowlett Fire Chief Larry Wright said. "They said, 'As of 7 a.m. [the next day] Garland will no longer be responding.' "

Dallas Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Tom Tanksley declined to discuss specifics but assured that safety on the lake wouldn't be compromised.

"We do have a working agreement with Rowlett Fire Rescue and the Dallas Police Department," he said. "Public safety is not an issue."

Dallas police staff a patrol boat on day and evening shifts. Otherwise, Rowlett Fire Rescue has taken over the 37-year-old, 22,745-acre lake that draws thousands of fishermen, sailors and other recreational users and is a primary source of water for the city of Dallas.

Chief Grammer said the change may already have been in the works. Rowlett had wanted to handle the lake calls for years, he said, and Dallas' new boat was not installed at Captain's Cove Marina, near Garland's Station No. 5, where rescue boats had been kept. Instead, it was put at Bayview Marina, closer to Rowlett Station No. 2.

"We were trying to get this boat situation worked out with Dallas," the Garland chief said. "Then, out of the blue, the [new] boat was taken to Bayview, and we started to hear that Rowlett was taking over."

Word also spread that Dallas was training Rowlett firefighters on the boat.

Officials in both Garland and Rowlett denied rumors that Garland retaliated for the switch by no longer sending firefighting units to Rowlett when called.

Firefighting equipment in the neighboring communities is covered by agreements of mutual aid and immediate assistance that have not changed.

There was talk from Garland about limiting back-ups when Rowlett's three ambulances are busy. Contrary to rumors that Garland had stopped sending ambulances to Rowlett when that city's three units are busy, Chief Grammer said Garland hasn't done that and won't.

However, he does want an agreement between the two cities that would cover Garland's ambulances when they are in Rowlett, a gray area that existing agreements don't address.

"It's a legal issue," Chief Grammer said. "There has been no impact on public safety."

Chief Wright said Rowlett depended on Garland ambulances too much several years ago but cut that reliance by adding a third ambulance. In the future, he said, Rowlett doesn't plan to call on Garland ambulances because Rowlett has made arrangements with a private ambulance company and the Sachse Fire Department.

As for response times in Rowlett, responding to the lake would be like answering a fire call in the city, Chief Wright said. If the firefighters from Station No. 2 are out — on the lake or at a fire — the response time to a second fire from another station would be the same, give or take a minute or two.

Nobody will admit — on the record — to hard feelings between the two departments.

"There is no friction between us and Garland, and there has been no compromise to public safety," Chief Wright said.