The floating victim dummy used by the Bainbridge Island Police Department for training purposes is aptly named Bob, and Bob performed his job admirably on Saturday, October 25, a windy and rainy day that gave Fire Department water rescue trainees some inclement weather experience.
The other victim of the day, a more animated, actual person, is Mike MacEvitt, a graduate of the very first BIPD Citizens’ Police Academy. He gamely allowed himself to be transferred on a backboard between boats or from the beach onto Marine 8, the BIPD’s studly 33-foot, three-engine water craft. Officer Ben Sias oversaw the training exercise, directing the BIFD trainees in practicing body transfer maneuvers and proper boat towing tie-ups.
Officer Erik Peffer steered Marine 8, and Harbormaster Tami Allen assisted and took the opportunity to patrol Eagle Harbor and, beyond the harbor, to look for illegal crab pots.
Marine 8 seats about eight in the main cabin. It includes a head that is currently used for storage, a GPS computerized map system, a Garmin navigation system, and an automatic identification system so operators can quickly i.d. vessels, their speed, and their location. However, it lacks a handle on the tow line, so firefighters had to pull on the edges of the tow line spool to recoil it, which gave them quite a workout.
The BIFD trainees arrived in shifts throughout the day. The BIPD has been training all three shifts of the BIFD. Sias said the exercises were the offshoot of a memorandum of understanding between the two agencies that happened in June, “a formalization of the way we’d done things in the past.” The training will allow for cross-staffing of Marine 8 to make sure that key personnel get on scene quickly for water events.
Additional BIPD staff have likewise gradually been getting trained in Marine 8 operations and water rescues. So far, in addition to Sias and Peffer, Officers Dale Johnson, Trevor Ziemba, Mo Stich, Scott Weiss, Amy LaClaire, and Gary Koon and Reserve Officer Mark Crowthers and Lieutenant Bob Day are certified.
Sias said Marine 8‘s mission is to perform water rescues, serve the functions of the Harbormaster, enforce No Wake regulations, provide assistance to Homeland Security, enforce DUI laws, investigate thefts that happen on boats or at sea, and enforce other laws that we’re more accustomed to being enforced on land, such as domestic violence laws.
Allen said that in 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency will assist in providing training to flotilla volunteers, including Public Utility District employees, firefighters, and skilled operators of “Vessels of Opportunity,” such as commercial fishermen and -women, who can respond to boat fires and environmental emergencies, such as oil leaks. Some of this training is funded by the companies that operate oil tankers.
Allen said just learning how to get the boom out of the emergency response trailer can be tricky. That’s the trailer stored at Fire Station 21 that has belonged to the City since 2008. It was used to respond to the 2013 sinking of the tugboat Chickamauga at the Bainbridge Island Marina. At that event, Allen said, the BIFD’s quick response averted what could have been a much more serious environmental disaster.
Sias said that Marine 8 can go 47 knots, but on Saturday the practice happened at a slower speed. Bob was tossed overboard and then firefighter trainees practiced lifting him out of the water and onto the boat. This is harder than it sounds: Officer Trevor Ziemba recently suffered a shoulder injury during an actual water rescue when pulling someone aboard from the water. The trainees discussed whether it was better to pull Bob onto the boat face down or face up. They also discussed which side of Bob was up and which down, since Bob lacks a face.
Peffer steered the boat alongside the small tug belonging to Islander Bob Selzer, a former Harbor Stewardship Commissioner. Selzer lends the tug to the BIPD for their training exercises. On Saturday, the trainees practiced a short tow and a long tow (used in rough seas) of the tug. When the tug was alongside, the trainees performed the backboard transfer.
Then Peffer ran the boat up on the beach and firefighters tried to navigate the backboard, with victim MacEvitt strapped in, through the narrow passageway at the front of the boat that leads to the hold where there are two berths.
At one point, the training operation seemed to receive official sanction from on high. As we headed away from the wharf, a full rainbow, from pot of gold to pot of gold, broke out across the sky, maybe ensuring good luck to Marine 8, its crew, and its mission.
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Photos by Sarah Lane.