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THE LITTLE FIREBOAT THAT COULD
At high noon on Sunday, a fire broke out at a carriage house mounted high on the hill above the enclave just west of Lake Geneva called Covenant Harbor. The fire was in a very difficult place, originating back in the upstairs kitchen inside a forty-foot structure. The carriage house itself stands on ground at least three hundred yards from the lake edge and then up another hundred feet, or so. The fire trucks that streamed in from as far as Burlington and Racine joined all the local fire departments situated around Lake Geneva. Lake Geneva’s fire chief, Brent Connelly, was in command, and quite a commander he is. He called in the little fireboat that could because he had no water up at that elevation and a normal pumper truck was not going to be able to handle the volume of water required to put the fire out. He called on the fireboat. The fireboat (skippered by Dan, firefighter and sailor from Linn) is equipped to connect hoses to its own system and then pump lake water up to the pumper truck whereby the pumper truck becomes a fire fighting force with no end of water supply in sight or even mind. The fire was put out in short order. Nobody was hurt.
Brent Connelly Fire Chief City of Lake Geneva
Everyone, firefighters and bystanders alike, stood around the scene and watched as water expanded the
Mike Rasmussen, Chief of Police, Lake Geneva
long hoses and supplied the fire fighting forces with the vital fire quenching water. It was Sunday at high noon and guess who else appeared? The Police Chief of Lake Geneva himself, Mike Rasmussen. To assist where he was needed. He was still there, along with Lake Geneva’s fire chief, long after the fire was out. Neither man, neither Mike nor Brent Connelly, would make the Packer’s game and the Packers were three and zero, facing the Forty-Niners in Denver. Those two men would remain for the afternoon, doing the kind of work nobody else really wants to do and doing it magnificently. The Packers did win on Sunday afternoon just as Lake Geneva surely did. The fireboat continues to prove, day after day, event after event, that its existence was the result of one of the most excellent decision made by the volunteer firefighters of Town of Linn, joined by that community’s enlightened leadership and some thoughtfully generous private citizens.
The entire community of Lake Geneva also owes of debt of gratitude to all those cities and towns that so rapidly responded to Lake Geneva’s moment of need; Town of Linn, Sharon, Randall, Burlington, East Troy, Hebron, Racine and Twin Lakes were all there. Forty-five minutes after the call came in, more than seven departments were on the scene ready and willing to put their backs into it and risk their lives performing the potentially deadly and dangerous work.
The little fireboat that could! Skipper Dan from Town of Linn brought the boat in and immediately went to work to pump water up to the higher pumping trucks. The higher trucks had a problem that’s common to so many near lake roads. There were no fire hydrants.
The front of the carriage house that burned out the back on Sunday afternoon. That edifice on the roof is really a huge industrial vent. What was being ‘cooked’ inside this supposedly abandoned carriage house? What burned What caused the fire? There are no answers yet.
Um…whoever wrote this needs to check their facts before publishing an article. Sounds like they failed basic reporting 101. There is so much of this article that isn’t even correct.
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John, it is always helpful for people who were at the scene of any incident to come forward and discuss what it is they actually witnessed. Seldom do two observer’s ever see and understand the same thing. Also, in this particular case (and it happens a lot these days – post 9/11), once the identity of the paper’s reporter was discovered he was required to leave the site. That kind of conduct on the part of police and fire departments makes it difficult to ascertain what the real facts are.
Well-
Fact one- Linns boat did not at any time supply water to any LGFD unit on scene.
Two- There was no kitchen in the building, but details as to where and why the fire started are NOT being shared until the investigation is done.
Three- There was a hydrant. Just north of the building about 250 feet up the road. Thus making Linn’s little fireboat useless, as it is NOT able to pump 2000 plus feet up the hillside, no matter what Pitt claims.
four- Lake Geneva’s site specifies that their “Engine one” carries 2000 gallons of water, which is far from no water in a firefighting situation, and they made great use of it, knocking the fire down rapidly with little extension or further damage.
Five- Stop giving Linn’s boat glory for fires and calls they are NOT requested for. They are a completely separate organization, with a separate budget and no relation to LGFD, and to compare the two is like trying to make a chicken look like an elephant. Doesn’t work. Two completely different things.
Linn’s fireboat is a WASTE of taxpayer money, through fuel and storage costs, along with people being required to be paid to “Staff” it. What a crock. They use the thing for joy rides and publicity, and of the two to three calls it showed up for, failed to justify the hundreds of thousands spent to buy and maintain it. Boat fires, like the one downtown, go out on their own, which would have happened fire boat or not. All on-board were off on a LGPD boat, and even with Linn’s “Quick” (15 min or MORE) response, failed to salvage anything. The boat was a total loss.
Ask more from your departments. LGFD does a wonderful job, and so does Linn in many aspects. Bravo to the LGFD guys who put the fire out quick, and to ALL the departments who responded, but get the facts straight and give the credit where it is deserved, to LGFD, and not Linn’s boat.
The Geneva Shore Report representative at the site of the fire was ejected from the site at the instructions of the Lake Geneva Fire Chief. It is difficult to get accurate data when consigned from a distance of many hundreds of yards away. There was a fire hydrant. It was non-functional. The hoses of the different fire departments were connected to the fireboat and then up to the pumper truck. What flowed through them remains a mystery but the hose connections are evident in one of the published photos. The fireboat has now been present at two major fires on Lake Geneva. It’s mere presence at these fires, regardless of its use, indicates that there was a need for it’s purchase and that good judgment was used in its creation and operation. The boat is well commanded and manned.