This is a early rendering of what the Firehawk 35' Harbor Guard Boat will look like

The Cornelius-Lemley Fire Rescue Department is trying to raise money for a new fire and rescue boat for Lake Norman.  There is a great need for a new fire and rescue boat in the area due to the increase in calls on the lake over the past few years.  Currently there are only two boats that serve the Cornelius and Huntersville areas, the Cornelius-Lemley Fire Rescue boat and the Gilead Fire Department boat.  Cornelius alone has 120 miles of shoreline with many large homes and condos that front the water.  There are also many large marinas with many docks in excess of 500 feet from shore making it extremely hard to fight fires from land based apparatus.  Some of the boats that are stored in these marinas are very large with large fuel tanks.  Lake Norman has more registered boats than any other lake in North Carolina.  Lake Norman also has recorded the most accidents and fatalities in North Carolina during 2005.  These numbers include the Intercoastal waterway.  With increased boater traffic as well as the addition of many large charter boats the potential for a major accident with multiple victims has increased steadily year after year.  As recently as  the July 4, 2006 weekend a charter boat carrying fifty four people had to make an emergency trip to the Peninsula Yacht club because several of the passengers had carbon monoxide poisoning.

The current Cornelius boat is a 23 foot rigid hull inflatable boat that was purchased and retrofitted for fire department use.  The boat can only carry one patient on a backboard and three rescuers.  The boat also has a pump that can only pump 500 gallons of water per minute.  Gilead Fire Department’s fire boat also has a pumping capacity of 500 gallons per minute.  Both boats are kept in the fire stations and have to be transported to the closest lake access for calls.  With the addition of a new boat Cornelius will have at least one boat stationed on the water ready to respond at all times.  It takes twenty six minutes to get from Ramsey Creek park to I-77 (this does not include the time it takes to transport the boat from the station to Ramsey Creek).  Plans are to keep the current boat at the CMPD boathouse (after reconstruction) and keep the new boat at Holiday Harbor.  Gilead’s fireboat must be kept at the station because Gilead Fire Department is responsible for responses on Lake Norman as well as Mountain Island Lake.

New Boat Features

• 3000 GPM pump. 
• Enclosed cabin for a climate controlled atmosphere. Emergencies in the winter are far more taxing on personnel than summer responses.
• Able to transport six patients on backboards
• Able to transport twenty people not on backboards
• A large fire pump would supply land based fire apparatus with an endless supply of water at 2000 gallons per minute.  Most of the old water lines in the area only supply 500 gallons or less which is not nearly enough water to fight fires in large homes and condos.
•  Fire pump with foam capabilities for flammable liquid fires

If you would like to donate to the "Float the Boat" campaign please send donations to:

Cornelius-Lemley Fire Rescue
PO Box 311
Cornelius, NC 28031

Kings Point Marina Fire - 1.9.07

On January 9, 2007 at 05:52 Cornelius firefighters were dispatched to Kings Point Marina for a reported marina fire.  While enroute Cornelius members added the Gilead Fire Department to the call for assistance with their fire boat.  Cornelius Engine 4 arrived on scene to find multiple boats on fire on the G Dock.  Cornelius 17 (Baker) assumed command.  Members then stretched the apartment line (200’ 2.5, gated wye, 200’ 1.75) from Engine 4 to the dock.  Once on the dock firefighters found three boats heavily involved with extension in a fourth boat.  Engine 3 arrived and secured a water supply and assisted with extending more hose so the fire could be reached.  Once the line was in place the crews began trying to extinguish the fire.  Cornelius 11 (K. Fox) assumed command and advised Gilead Fire Boat to start hitting the boat that was towards the end of the dock. Crews from Rescue 4 and Gilead Engine 1 arrived on the dock and added an additional 250ft of 1.75 to the unused part of the gated wye.  A total of seven hundred feet of line was used.  Crews had to use chainsaws and other hand tools to fully extinguish all boats.  Once the fire was under control members had to put out oil absorbent booms to contain the fuel and oil leaks from two of the boats which sunk.  A total of eight boats were either destroyed or damaged during this fire.  Cornelius members stayed on scene for approximately seven hours.

This is the second fire at Kings Point Marina in the past two years.  The G, H, and I Docks all pose multiple problems for firefighters because all docks are linked together.  From the shore to the end of I dock is approximately 800 feet.  It is an additional 200 feet from the parking lot to the shoreline.  This marina fire emphasizes the Cornelius Fire Departments need for a full service Fireboat that can be kept on the water and have the pumping capabilities of at least 2000GPM.