Security and Safety Committee Report Archive

Dock Watch, Fuel Dock Explosion, Fireboat Changed

Dock Watch

By Tiff McNamara

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Alki Unstaffed

Your Safety and Security Committee was alarmed by recent reports that our fresh water fire protection was about to disappear under the scissors of Seattle budget slicers. The word was, the old ALKI was going to get "un-staffed", effectively closing for business, Station #3 at Fisherman's Terminal as of January 1,2009.   Station #3 and the ALKI, partially staffed and limited as she has been, was the product of a hard-fought and long-awaited gain brought on the backs of accumulating numbers of disastrous marina and houseboat fires.

NEW 24 HR DUTY RIG: The Police Harbor Unit changeed to a 24 hour duty rig last year and is now surveying public users about their service. Please contact Jann McFarland at the FHA office for a copy of this brief survey. Your responses are most appreciated.

4th OF JULY: The Harbor Unit lifted a long-standing unofficial policy allowing anchoring in the south end of Lake Union on the night of July 4th. Many disgruntled boaters complained about the early AM eviction. The policy will undergo revision to make it official one way or the other.

The May 2008 Harbor Patrol Advisory Council meeting was substituted by a Council invitational visit to the new USCG JHOC, Joint Harbor Operations Center at Pier 36 on Elliott Bay. This is a state of the art maritime command center for the Pacific Northwest including the Washington Sate Patrol, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security agencies, and local law enforcement. The JHOC oversees and monitors marine operations, maritime safety and security of the Puget Sound area, as well as facilitating planning, monitoring, and response

Chief Gregory Dean, head of the Seattle Fire Department, won his audience's attention by admitting to several humorous misperceptions about life in the houseboat community over the years. He struck a more serious note as he gave behind-the-scenes accounts of several recent waterside infernos, especially the NOAA fire.

From Tiff

In January the Seattle Police Department changed the boundaries of its precincts. For the houseboat community the most significant change is that south of Lynn Street will now be the West Precinct, no longer the East. This divides the Eastlake community into two precincts.

Fire on Lake Union

It's happened again: A Lake Union fire has directly threatened the lives and property of Seattle's houseboat community. With eerie deja vu, Lake Union's southernmost houseboat dock, adjacent to NOAA, and most threatened by the NOAA fire just a year ago, was again engulfed in smoke, but this time from one of its own.