Vallejo Fireboat Answers Call to Anti-Terrorism Duty
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
Jan. 5, 2004
VALLEJO -- The 34-foot fireboat slashes a frothy wake through the blue-green waters of the Carquinez Strait, its engine reduced to a gurgling drone.
The three-person crew, wearing puffy orange jackets, stares out over the bow, scouring the horizon for anything suspicious.
Or anything at all.
Bill Tweedy, a spokesman for the Vallejo Fire Department, looks past the choppy waters through reflective sunglasses. He aims a finger at an Amtrak train hugging the shoreline just past the new Carquinez bridge.
"Think about it," he said. "Someone sends a package on a container boat, and it ends up on a freight train. The train goes under the bridge and kaboom. It could happen.
"There are a lot of different threats out there."
This is the war on terrorism's homefront -- a nameless boat bobbing in the Bay, its crew assessing risks through squinting eyes.
In the homeland security jigsaw puzzle, this unarmed craft from Vallejo is a tiny piece, pushed into an extended role since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
This is how America defends herself now -- with patience, vigilance and a whole lot of overtime.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Vallejo Fire Department has assisted the Coast Guard by prowling the North Bay waters. Its role involves scrutinizing sensitive infrastructure that could attract terrorists, including bridges, power lines, railways, refineries and other places that officials decline to discuss.
The vessel, which fights fires and responds to medical emergencies, scours the waterways between Antioch and Napa.
"They're mostly an extra set of eyes," said Aaron Fjestad, a Coast Guard petty officer in Vallejo.
So far, the fire department has not reported any credible threats. But the added security efforts have cost Vallejo about $1 million, said city spokesman Mark Mazzaferro.
"Certainly, after 9/11, we all went on high alert," he said. "Since then, there are times when we go on increased alert again, which trigger more security and more overtime."
The city feels the fiscal strain. It pruned $2.2 million from its current budget over concerns about lost car-tax revenue. The city has also left two dozen city vacancies unfilled.
"But this is now the cost of doing business," Mazzaferro said. "What's your choice? Don't do it?"
Vallejo's fireboat, the only one in Solano County, was acquired from Los Angeles for $1. It replaces the Neptune, a 24-foot fireboat that had been used since 2001.
On a recent day, the craft churned through the Mare Island Strait under cloudy skies and a breeze, passing a lineup of time-worn military buildings and giant cranes looming over the waterfront.
The craft, which can blast up to 1,000 gallons of water a minute, is called into duty by the Coast Guard about once a week.
Engineer James Brunson steered the boat while firefighter Bruce Phillips sat shotgun.
The boat checks out sites the Coast Guard selects, and calls in anything that looks suspicious -- a tiny boat tethered to a bridge, abandoned equipment, suspicious people.
"We base our information on what it looked like yesterday, and what it looked like today," said Tweedy, the spokesman.
On this day, the boat passed under several bridges and a major transmission line, and near several refineries, their smokestacks puffing into the dark skies. Nothing stood out as unusual.
The boat turned around in San Pablo Bay, and headed back to Vallejo.
With so many routine patrols like this one, crew members travel with a sense of ease.
"It'll really kick in if there is an attack in the U.S. again, post-9/11," Phillips said, gazing out at the water.
"We hear about a lot of threats. But it's sort of like crying wolf."
Contra Costa Newspapers
Jan. 5, 2004
VALLEJO -- The 34-foot fireboat slashes a frothy wake through the blue-green waters of the Carquinez Strait, its engine reduced to a gurgling drone.
The three-person crew, wearing puffy orange jackets, stares out over the bow, scouring the horizon for anything suspicious.
Or anything at all.
Bill Tweedy, a spokesman for the Vallejo Fire Department, looks past the choppy waters through reflective sunglasses. He aims a finger at an Amtrak train hugging the shoreline just past the new Carquinez bridge.
"Think about it," he said. "Someone sends a package on a container boat, and it ends up on a freight train. The train goes under the bridge and kaboom. It could happen.
"There are a lot of different threats out there."
This is the war on terrorism's homefront -- a nameless boat bobbing in the Bay, its crew assessing risks through squinting eyes.
In the homeland security jigsaw puzzle, this unarmed craft from Vallejo is a tiny piece, pushed into an extended role since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
This is how America defends herself now -- with patience, vigilance and a whole lot of overtime.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Vallejo Fire Department has assisted the Coast Guard by prowling the North Bay waters. Its role involves scrutinizing sensitive infrastructure that could attract terrorists, including bridges, power lines, railways, refineries and other places that officials decline to discuss.
The vessel, which fights fires and responds to medical emergencies, scours the waterways between Antioch and Napa.
"They're mostly an extra set of eyes," said Aaron Fjestad, a Coast Guard petty officer in Vallejo.
So far, the fire department has not reported any credible threats. But the added security efforts have cost Vallejo about $1 million, said city spokesman Mark Mazzaferro.
"Certainly, after 9/11, we all went on high alert," he said. "Since then, there are times when we go on increased alert again, which trigger more security and more overtime."
The city feels the fiscal strain. It pruned $2.2 million from its current budget over concerns about lost car-tax revenue. The city has also left two dozen city vacancies unfilled.
"But this is now the cost of doing business," Mazzaferro said. "What's your choice? Don't do it?"
Vallejo's fireboat, the only one in Solano County, was acquired from Los Angeles for $1. It replaces the Neptune, a 24-foot fireboat that had been used since 2001.
On a recent day, the craft churned through the Mare Island Strait under cloudy skies and a breeze, passing a lineup of time-worn military buildings and giant cranes looming over the waterfront.
The craft, which can blast up to 1,000 gallons of water a minute, is called into duty by the Coast Guard about once a week.
Engineer James Brunson steered the boat while firefighter Bruce Phillips sat shotgun.
The boat checks out sites the Coast Guard selects, and calls in anything that looks suspicious -- a tiny boat tethered to a bridge, abandoned equipment, suspicious people.
"We base our information on what it looked like yesterday, and what it looked like today," said Tweedy, the spokesman.
On this day, the boat passed under several bridges and a major transmission line, and near several refineries, their smokestacks puffing into the dark skies. Nothing stood out as unusual.
The boat turned around in San Pablo Bay, and headed back to Vallejo.
With so many routine patrols like this one, crew members travel with a sense of ease.
"It'll really kick in if there is an attack in the U.S. again, post-9/11," Phillips said, gazing out at the water.
"We hear about a lot of threats. But it's sort of like crying wolf."
posted by Corey at 9:52 AM
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