New FCSO Patrol/Rescue Boat

Press Release - July 22, 2008

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office was recently able to purchase a new patrol/rescue boat without using any taxpayer funds. The process began several years ago when Lt. Commander Dave Lieb and Search and Rescue Coordinator, Corporal Jordan White, attended a meeting with county residents concerned with the safety of Flathead Lake. “Since that time, we have managed to procure our own vessel for emergency response on Flathead Lake”, said White. This boat is a used vessel formerly owned by the Border Patrol on the Great Lakes. “We used federal grant funds to purchase the boat, trailer, and sea search radar. All of the safety and rescue equipment was purchased by a donation from the surviving family of a man who died in a Jet Ski accident on Flathead Lake last year”, White said. The Sheriff’s Office also received a grant from the Flathead 911 Foundation to purchase a thermal search camera for the boat. In the end, the entire project was completed without using taxpayer dollars.

The boat is a dive rescue model with an extra large heated cabin. It has twin 225 horsepower outboard motors. Fold down doors and sturdy diver ladders make working from the boat much safer and easier than many other boats. The radar and thermal search camera makes searching and navigating in the dark far more effective. Search and Rescue personnel are also able to deploy the side scanning sonar and submersible robot from this vessel. White cautioned, “The functionality of the equipment is dependent on the skill of the operator and is not a “cure all” for water related emergencies, but we are in a better position than we have ever been before.”
 

The new boat is currently docked at the north end of Flathead Lake at the Eagle Bend Yacht Harbor in Bigfork. It can be transported to other lakes, but not as an emergency response protocol. Its use for search and rescue or patrol requests is dependent on the situation and personnel available. A second vessel operated by the Sheriff’s Office is a shallow draft jet boat best suited for rivers and the shallow areas in Flathead Lake.