Salish Star
Bellingham’s new fireboat floats on Bellingham Bay
STORY BY COURTNEY O’KEEFE | PHOTOS BY DANIELLA BECCARIA
(Above) The new Salish Star fireboat sits in the harbor at Bellingham Bay. The firemen are on call for both the boat and a fire truck parked nearby.
She yells at a piercing level as her lights shimmer in the distance over the pitch-black Bellingham Bay. Looking far ahead and deep into the water below, she is careful not to collide with anything in her path.
Welcome home Salish Star. The new 38-foot Bellingham fireboat is replacing the Fire Belle, who loyally served the Bellingham and Whatcom County community for more than 30 years. The newest addition to the team is equipped with two fire pumps that spray approximately 3,000 gallons of water per minute; more than double the amount of the decommissioned Fire Belle.
Only a short five months after sending the Fire Belle off to sail away, a boat fire killed a couple living aboard their boat in Squalicum Harbor. However there’s no way to say if having a fireboat in commission at that time would have changed the results of this tragic event, says Warren Scotter, Bellingham firefighter and member of the Salish Star crew.
Built by Moose Boats, Inc. of Petaluma, California, the Salish Star provides a stable platform allowing crewmembers from Fire Station 5 to work diligently and efficiently when responding to emergencies. In total, 12 members of Bellingham’s Fire Station 5 are trained as part of the Salish Star crew, but only three respond to a call at any one time.
The previous fireboat, Fire Belle, only responded to calls in the Bellingham Bay due to its slow speed and travel time. The new Salish Star can respond to calls as far as Birch Bay and Anacortes because it’s nearly three times faster, says Scotter.
Along with much faster response times, the Salish Star is equipped with a Furuno NavNet 3D radar and chart plotting system that allows the boat captain to observe both at the same time. This is an immense benefit for the team when they’re searching for something in the water. It is also color coated based on temperature, so when a human or object pops up on the screen, they can tell the temperature, says Scotter.
Outside of the cabin, the boat is embellished with an infrared camera system that allows the crew the ability to see people and other objects far ahead in the dark or heavy fog.
The $1 million boat was purchased with a $750,000 Port Security grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, along with $125,000 contributions from both the City of Bellingham and the Port of Bellingham. The Salish Star is officially in commission as of Monday, Nov. 17, 2015.
She rests nestled closely to the dock, as she awaits her next call to serve the community.