The Departments first boat was purchased that same year. It was a 16-foot rigid hull inflatable boat manufactured by Zodiac with a 50 hp outboard engine. Within the first summer of service the CFD was credited with saving a teenage boy from the Peconic Bay when his boat had capsized.

 

The members are trained in all aspects of Surface Water Rescue, and have received additional training in Boating safety, water extrication, Ice Rescue, rescue swimming, USCG search and rescue, and Dive Rescue as tenders in order to support local dive teams provided by our neighboring departments. The team continues to train on a regular basis in order to be ready for any emergency.

 

The CFD is proud to announce that in the September of 2007 that they have increased their capabilities with the delivery of a new custom built Fire-Rescue Boat, the first of its type in the area.  The new vessel designed by CFD members, is a 28-foot custom built, all aluminum hull fire-rescue boat built by Curtis Marine Inc. of Setauket N.Y. The new boat has a shallow 17” draft and is powered by twin 200hp Honda 4-stroke outboard Engines. It has an enclosed pilot house that will allow the crew and patients to remain comfortably inside if needed, and will provide heat during the colder months. There is also large cockpit and deck area that will provide crews to work safely and a folding dive door built into the hull. The vessel also has firefighting capabilities, having a built in 550 gallon per minute pump with a bow mounted deck gun. Also included is a state of the art electronics package that included GPS, and chart plotter and a Roof Mounted FLIR / Thermal imaging Camera for use during searches.

 

The new boat will be docked in the water during the boating season, and along with the existing Inflatable boat, will be able to quickly respond to any water related emergency that may arise. The CFD is proud of this new vessel and expect it to serve our residents well for many years to come.