All meetings will be held at 6:30pm at either the Empire Fire Station, located at 405 Empire Boulevard or Culver Station, located at 2960 Culver Road, in the Town of Irondequoit, Rochester, NY.
Regular meeting dates are as follows:
February 12th – Culver
March 4th – Empire
March 18th – Empire
April 1st – Culver
April 15th – Culver
May 6th – Empire
May 20th – Empire
June 3rd – Culver
June 17th – Culver
July 15th – Empire
August 5th – Culver
August 19th – Culver
September 9th – Empire
September 23rd – Empire
October 7th – Culver
October 21st (Public Budget Hearing and Final Adoption) – Culver
November 4th – Empire
November 18th – Empire
December 2nd – Culver
December 10th – (Election Only, NO MEETING) – Culver
A little over 2 years ago the, then Ridge Culver Fire District, approved the purchase of a new marine Fire Boat. A committee had been formed to evaluate the needs and risks of the Irondequoit Bay and to evaluate different boat designs to maximize our response capabilities to answer these challenges. During the process the IFD was formed by the consolidation between Ridge Culver and Laurelton.
The new boat will serve all of Irondequoit Bay alongside our neighbors to the east, West Webster. This vessel will provide some additional capabilities and ensure public safety on the Bay as well as out into the Lake (near shore) if needed. Built by Lake Assault Boats in Wisconsin, we faced several COVID related delays in metal, motors, and other materials. The dedicated work of the committee and chairman led to the final product being realized in time for the 2024 boating/watersports season.
Equipped with a Garmin Chart Plotter and RADAR, coupled with sonar capabilities this vessel will improve our ability to find drowning victims underwater. It has a dedicated fire pump with a 1500 Gallon-Per-Minute monitor on the roof for boat and other fires, as well as discharges for smaller handlines if needed. It will have a rescue basket for getting injured persons out of the water or off of another vessel, as well as medical equipment, and is equipped with a heated cabin for longer seasons and loiter time when searching for missing persons who may jumped from the bridge. The bow drops into the water for victim rescue and retrieval but the base "V" hull allows for quick, stable, maneuvering.
We are all very excited to add this tool to our cache as we improve our ability to assist those who need us. The boat will soon be wrapped with graphics, then launched to its dock along the West Side of the bay. Once there, crews will spend a few weeks training on the new unit and we plan to be fully in-service by the end of June.
Foredeck view of the Cab
The Helm
The RADAR/FLIR mast will be raised when road travel is completed.
