Arnolds Park boat part of flood relief effort

Residents and visitors to the area may have noticed an absense as they looked toward the Highway 71 trestle bridge and Arnold's Park/ Okoboji water rescue hoist. That is because the Arnold's Park/ Okoboji Fire and Rescue deployed the Lakes Area Fire and Rescue Boat to the City of Cedar Rapids area to stand-by in case there is a fire in the hundreds of blocks under water throughout the city.

The city of Cedar Rapids Fire Department made the request, citing an urgent need for some type of apparatus that could reach the areas in the city that were covered with several feet of water and provide adequate water pumping capabilities to suppress any fire that may break out.

After arranging for back-up resources from the great lakes and obtaining signatures on a formal written request, the boat was loaded on to its trailer and departed to Cedar Rapids around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday June 14. Upon arrival in Cedar Rapids around 4:15 p.m. the fire and rescue boat was assigned to the west side staging area also known as Cedar Rapids Fire Station 5. After making contact at the staging area the three crew members, Assist. Chief Dave Nelson, Lt. Jason Kirschbaum and Capt. Mark Petersen were given a tour of the area by boat. Capt. Petersen commented, "What you see in pictures in the newspaper and on TV is completely different then what you see up close." He also stated that their hosts were also affected by the floods as their central station, which housed administration and the fire departments museum, was under water up to the roof line and the only thing they were able to get out of the station in time was the apparatus.

"They were so busy doing rescues they did not get back to the station in time to clear out their personal belongings or anything from the station." Capt. Petersen added.

After the tour the boat was stationed on Interstate 380 off-ramp near the water in the event that rapid deployment was needed. A Cedar Rapids firefighter was assigned to the fire boat in addition to the three Arnold's Park/ Okoboji crew members to act as a guide and assist them in getting to the scene of the emergency for which the boat was needed. The boat was expected to be needed on site for three or four days until water levels began to recede to a level when the boat would no longer be useful. On Sunday morning, June 16th after taking measurements and seeing that the water was dropping at a much faster rate than what was expected it was determined that the fire and rescue boat would no longer be usable for the site. The Arnold's Park/ Okoboji Fire and Rescue team then loaded up and returned to the lakes area leaving Cedar Rapids at around 2 p.m. and the boat was back into the hoist by 7:30 p.m. Sunday night.

Chief Chris Yungbluth commented, "I'm glad we had the opportunity to send some resources elsewhere in the state after all the help we received on teh drowning case a few years ago.

"The thoughts and prayers of all members of Arnold's Park/ Okoboji Fire and Rescue go out to the residents and responders in the affected area and hope that they are able to stay safe in the many months and years of recovery to come.