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Members of the Rotary Club of Abbeville and the Abbeville Fire Department with the boat after Wednesday’s meeting.

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The Abbeville Rescue boat was brought to a Abbeville Rotary Club meeting recently.

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The boat features the logos for the Rotary Club and the Abbeville Fire Department.

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After a rain storm earlier this year, Abbeville Firefighter Tony Landry responds to a truck that flipped over on Coulee Kinney Road.

Rotary Club helps Abbeville Fire Department purchase boat

When you think of firefighters arriving at a scene to help, you likely picture them doing so in a truck.
However, frequent heavy rains have created some scenes over the years that are not conducive for trucks. Thanks to some help from the Rotary Club of Abbeville, the Abbeville Fire Department now has a boat.
Abbeville Assistant Fire Chief Kelly Mire told members of the Rotary Club that the idea that the department needed a boat began after the historic flooding in August of 2016.
“We never had the capacity for a boat in the department before,” Mire said. “We had a foot to two-and-a-half feet of water on some of our streets. So we were running these half-million-dollar fire trucks through the water. That is not ideal.”
The discussion began last year between Rotarian Rob Roy and Mire about the club helping the department.
“We received a grant from Hurricane Laura through the district,” Roy said of the club’s Rotary district. “That was able to pay for the purchase of this boat.”
With the help of the Rotary Club grant, at the cost of $14,000, the fire department purchased a one-piece, molded plastic boat from Whaly Boats. As part of the agreement, the city purchased a motor for $8,000.
“Our department appreciates everything that y’all do,” Mire told the Rotarians. “Just watching y’all work is a blessing to this city and the surrounding areas.”
Earlier this year, multiple agencies had an opportunity to watch how well the boat works.
“There was an 18-wheeler carrying crude oil that flipped after cutting too sharp on Coulee Kinney (Road),” Mire said. “That was during a large rainstorm. State Police and Haz-Mat arrived. We had the boat. It met the need that day.”
There are numerous needs the boat can meet.
“The front of the boat opens up,” Mire explained. “You can stand on it in the water. Hopefully, we never have to, but if it floods on streets again, we can go up to a porch and take someone in a wheelchair and put them in the boat.”
Mire said a member of each shift is trained to operate the boat.
“There will always be someone who knows how to use it,” Mire said.
Again, a boat may not be something you closely associate with a fire department. However, as far as Mire is concerned, the boat is vital to the department being prepared to respond to any scene.
“This is going to be a great asset,” Mire said. “The Rotary Club has blessed us with this, and we really appreciate it.”

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