Craft serving on popular body of water located within the nation’s ninth largest city.
SUPERIOR, Wis. (September 15, 2020) – The Dallas Fire-Rescue Department, located in Dallas County, Texas, has placed a 28-foot Lake Assault Boats firefighting and rescue craft into service. The boat will be stationed on Lake Ray Hubbard, a busy 22,000-acre body of water that is bisected by Interstate 30 and located entirely within the city limits. The vessel is engineered to respond to a wide range of on-the-water firefighting and emergency response scenarios.
“We’re thrilled to place this versatile and powerful craft into service with the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department, a high-profile and respected organization,” stated Chad DuMars, Lake Assault Boats vice president of operations. “Lake Ray Hubbard is a vitally important natural resource for the region’s residents and visitors, and we’re proud to have one of our boats serve on this body of water.”
“This new craft takes our on-the-water emergency response capabilities to a whole new level,” said Captain Donald Barton, a 35-year veteran of the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department. “We now have a state-of-the-art firefighting system, a far more stable and secure platform for rescue operations, a way to quickly deploy firefighting teams and ATVs, and much more.”
The landing craft style, modified V-hull boat sports a 63-inch hydraulically operated bow door (with an integrated ladder for diver re-entry) and flat tread areas for ATV deployment. The boat can be safely operated at slow speed with the bow door opened for use as a rescue platform. There is a port side dive door, swimmer’s grab rails, and a full-length rub rail.
The hull’s draft is less than 18-inches and the 1,250-gpm fire pump (powered by a dedicated GM V-6 engine) can operate in as little as 14 inches of water. Propulsion is supplied by twin Honda 250 hp outboard motors controlled through a one-touch joystick and digital anchoring system.
The boat also features a full width pilothouse with 76-inches of headroom, padded bench seating, a heavy-duty HVAC system, and a dash console with ample room for electronics, including: GPS, HD Radar, Sonar with side scan and structure scan, chart plotting, and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR). The helm station includes all fire pump controls as well as an overhead radio rack.
The Dallas Fire-Rescue Department, organized in 1872, provides fire-rescue, emergency medical, Hazmat response, and technical rescue services for resident and visitors of the city and county of Dallas, Texas. The department responds from 58 stations, and nearly 1.2 million people live in its response area.
Siddons-Martin Emergency Group of Houston, Texas provides local service and support, and features 19 centers located throughout its market area. The contract included delivery to Dallas and three days of operational training.
Photo caption: The Dallas Fire-Rescue Department, located in Dallas County, Texas, has placed this 28-foot Lake Assault Boats firefighting and rescue craft into service. The vessel is engineered to respond to a wide range of on-the-water firefighting and emergency response scenarios. (Photo courtesy of Captain Donald L. Barton.)