CASCADE LOCKS — A grant of not more than $3,500 to replace aging life jackets and update rescue equipment at Cascade Locks Fire Department was unanimously approved by Port of Cascade Locks Commissioners at their Feb. 20 meeting.
John Logan
Fire Chief John Logan's request was incited by a drowning that took place in Cascade Locks last summer. “Last summer we had a tragedy at the park, were a young Native American man passed away in the locks, swimming,” said Port Executive Director Jeremiah Blue.
The previous port commission, in office at the time, asked to set aside $6,000 to potentially assist in purchasing jet ski for the fire department, to assist with such emergencies. However, that money wasn’t enough to purchase a jet ski-type watercraft.
“Me and chief spoke the very next day, I said, ‘Hey, we got you $6,000 for a jet ski;’ he said, ‘Great, all we need is 60,’” Blue recalled.
Instead, the commission decided the money could purchase other equipment to assist with river rescues. Now, the fire department is asking for the money to help fund equipment that could help them partner with Hood River County Sheriff’s Office to respond to future emergencies on the river.
“The fire chief came to me a couple weeks ago and said, ‘Hey, is that $6,000 still alive,” Blue said. The money wasn't specifically in the budget, but port staff found some "stuff" in the maintenance budget to cover the cost.
“We also are working in the background with Hood River County Sheriff's,” Blue said, “and they’re attempting to get us a jet ski for this season, and potentially a boat for next season ... We just had someone leave the marina, we left that space open. Fingers crossed we get a jet ski or a boat in down there.”
Logan’s requests included replacing 10 life jackets that are reaching the end of their usable lifespan. That would place life jackets with each of the apparatus that might respond to water rescues and port-area events. “Everything in my world expires, regardless of its use,” Logan said.
Other needs were mergency whistles, rescue rope throw bags, and knives. If a rescuer becomes entangled in a rescue rope, the knife can be used for cutting themselves free.
Not only are jet skis and trailers themselves very expensive, but so is all the gear and training require for every member of the rescue programs, Logan has learned.
But $6,000 could outfit fire department personnel, who could then tie themselves off to a sheriff’s office boat, in the event of emergencies on the river.
The sheriff’s office is also working with the Marine Board of the state of Oregon to potentially get a second boat for the county.
“If it goes that far, I’ll be writing letters of support,” Logan said, “in hopes that he can train some of my staff to operate said boat, so we can get a quicker response to water incidents. And it’s not just the people who jump off a bridge, or their canoe flips over; it could be an incident on the sternwheeler, out in the middle of the river, and we don’t have access to it currently without the sheriff’s office helping us.”
The expired equipment, still usable, may be donated. Logan and the commissioners discussed several options. “There’s a program where most of united states fire equipment that is expired gets sent to Mexico. So it would be somewhere that we could help a third world country or a smaller country that can’t afford stuff, get at least something,” Logan said.
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