By Ben Leubsdorf
The Concord Monitor
CONCORD, N.H. — Concord firefighters are in line to get a large new rescue boat instead of two smaller ones.
The Concord Fire Department is looking to “take our waterborne rescue capabilities to the next level” by purchasing a 40- horsepower, rigid-hull boat, said Deputy Fire Chief Tim McGinley.
The department has three inflatable boats. Two of the boats are kept inflated and have 25-horsepower engines, while one is “not as robust,” McGinley said this week.
The city appropriated $20,000 in fiscal 2009 to purchase two inflatable boats, but they would be similar to the existing boats, McGinley said. Instead, the department intends to use that money to buy one larger boat which would be used for rescues on Penacook Lake and other bodies of water.
The city council accepted a report updating them on the purchase Tuesday night, which green-lights the change, McGinley said.
He said the new boat will probably be purchased and in service by the spring. He said it could be based at the Heights station and one of the three inflatable boats could be mothballed.
Upgrading to a more powerful engine means the boat operators in the department will have to complete a safety course, which will be done sometime this fall or winter, McGinley said.
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