With help of $18,940 grant, Benicia in market for 15-foot inflatable craft that can carry up to 10

Convinced that such a purchase makes sense for a city with 15 miles of shoreline, Benicia City Council has authorized fire department Chief Jim Lydon to bid for an inflatable rescue boat.

“We are a waterfront community,” said Vice Mayor Mark Hughes, who added that he anticipated improvements to the city’s downtown coastal area would increase the number of people flocking to the Carquinez Strait shoreline.

“I think this is a good alternative,” he said, adding that he wished the city had looked at such options years ago. “I’m in full support.”

Though Councilmember Tom Campbell worried that half the $5,000 annual expense of the boat’s operation will be for liability insurance to protect the city, Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said, “That’s a small price to save a life.”

But Patterson, too, was mindful of other expenses, and asked that the resolution passed unanimously Tuesday mention that current staffing and training practices would be sufficient once the boat and auxiliary equipment is purchased.

If that changes, the panel decided that Lydon would need to return to the Council for its approval of any modifications.

Patterson also urged Lydon to cultivate a close relationship with volunteers, members of the boating community and the Coast Guard auxiliary “as a backup in a bad situation.”

Campbell was worried about staffing capabilities, but Lydon assured the Council that a third of his employees already are trained to handle the boat and more would get the same, high-standard training.

The department would have no trouble being available for around-the-clock rescues, Lydon said.

The boat would be stored at one of the city’s two fire stations and would be transported by trailer to the launch closest to the site of an emergency, he said.

Carl Littorno, one of Lydon’s employees, described what he has seen in 10 years as a paramedic who also has been a volunteer on a sheriff’s boat. “I’ve been out there. I’ve seen why it’s important to have a paramedic there.”

The Council learned Tuesday that the fire department currently only has ropes with which to effect a rescue of anyone in trouble in the water.

Should a victim be beyond about 30 feet from shore, the department must call on outside help from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, Contra Costa agencies or American Canyon Fire Department.

The Coast Guard has promised to be ready to deploy in 30 minutes and to arrive in no more than two hours from getting a call, but that agency has no rescue swimmer aboard its boats, Lydon previously told the Council.

Benicia Fire Department paramedics and their lifesaving equipment currently wait on shore for victims to be delivered.

Littorno said that if the Council authorized the boat purchase, paramedics could begin life-saving procedures on a victim more quickly.

In the past, the Council looked at buying a larger boat that not only could rescue water accident victims, but also could fight fires.

In 2007, the city set aside $20,000 for startup costs, and in 2008 it earmarked $40,000 for operations of a rescue and fire-suppression boat.

But the Council didn’t have the $160,000 for a used boat, let alone $250,000 for a new one, to get the program started.

In 2012, the Council made water rescue capabilities a second-tier, or moderate, priority, depending on funding.

In the interim, Benicia Fire Department’s former chief, Steve Vucurevich, and his successor, Lydon, sought grants from multiple sources.

But their applications were rejected by the Fireman’s Fund Heritage Program and Homeland Security’s grants program. They were unable to seek a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant for a boat because another equipment grant request had been made.

Last year, several residents employed by the Fireman’s Fund offered to help the department apply for a grant, and sought additional funding for ancillary expenses.

That made the difference, and the city was offered an $18,940 grant that the Council accepted Tuesday night.

In the meantime, the department and city also had changed focus from a multipurpose vessel to an inflatable and less-expensive water rescue craft that can hold 10 people, though Lydon said the number to be deployed with the boat probably would be three, to allow space for victims and life-saving equipment.

Lydon said he will bid for the boat, a 15-foot inflatable with an outboard motor.

With this purchase, he said, “We could acquire the tools for rescuing.”