Clayton fire boat remains ready to serve the public

Jun. 6—CLAYTON — Iterations of Last Chance, Clayton's fire boat, have been serving the north country for over 60 years, going where fire trucks can't go.

As Clayton Fire Department treasurer and boat Capt. Justin Taylor boarded the boat recently, his pager went off, his phone sounded, and the fire whistle blared through the streets of Clayton. The department was requested to be on standby for an incident on Wellesley Island.

Within minutes, seven Clayton firefighters arrived to the boat along with four emergency medical technicians from Thousand Islands Emergency Rescue Service, ready to respond to the scene.

After a few minutes, the Clayton fire boat was disregarded and shortly after, the firefighters and EMTs began to disperse.

The first Clayton fire boat was donated in 1960 by J.P. Lewis, a seasonal Clayton resident. Mr. Lewis came up with the name "Last Chance" as a fitting description for serving people on the islands — the boat was generally the last chance for property to be saved or for the sick or injured to be taken to the hospital. The boat was described as a shrimp boat.

In 1968, a 16-foot Crestliner boat with a 20-horsepower Mercury outboard was added and was maintained on a trailer. The Clayton Fire Department still has that boat — "Slim Chance."

By 1970, a repurposed, bare-bones houseboat hull, with a twin 290-horsepower Chrysler inboard/outboard engine was purchased for $9,000. Other improvements were made over time, including installing a used radar, a single channel fire radio and a basic marine radio, among other fire and EMS equipment.

In 2002, the fire department decided to replace the old Last Chance boat and appointed a committee to evaluate options.

For about $350,000, the department decided on manufacturing company MetalCraft Marine and the Firestorm 36. The department received the boat on June 1, 2003.

The boat has twin jet drives, a marine radio that allows for the captain to talk with nearby boaters, and a new navigation system.

The navigation system was installed last year and cost $30,000. On the main screen of the navigation system, a map takes up half the screen, displaying nearby boats and land. The right side of the screen has two cameras, one on top of the other. The camera on top shows the back of the boat, while the camera on the bottom is a thermal camera for night vision looking out of the front of the boat.

On the passenger side, a nozzle controls the direction of the water. The driver's side of the boat controls the power of the water.

Mr. Taylor said that a half dozen people serve as boat captains and that they keep in contact with each other to see who is available. Boat captains are the only ones allowed to drive the boat. The captain is responsible for operating the vessel and getting people to safety.

As the fire boat cruised the shoreline toward some of the restaurants and hotels on the water, people who were sitting outside got their phones out and began taking pictures.

Then, Mr. Taylor decided to give them a show and sprayed water into the lake.

"People love seeing this," he said.

He takes the boat out regularly for the public to see. When other boats passed the fire boat, Mr. Taylor pointed out who everyone was, knowing just by looking at their boat.

Mr. Taylor said that the fire boat responds to about 25 calls each year, with most of the calls being EMS transport calls.

"Most of our calls, we provide the transportation for them from the mainland to wherever they're going, wherever the call is," Mr. Taylor said. "It could be a boat, it could be on one of the islands."

Mr. Taylor said 13 or 14 people, between those being transported for medical treatment and the responders, were once on board together. The call came in after a group's boat hit the Eagle Wing shoals between Clayton and Grindstone Island, he recalled. Six people were brought aboard the fire boat, and seven ambulances were lined up at the regional dock with a helicopter stationed where the 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel now stands.

"From an emergency perspective, you couldn't ask for it to (have) gone off any better than it did," he said.

Mr. Taylor said that the department has to take every call "at face value."

"You can't really second-guess it," he said. "There's no typical call. We've got to be prepared for anything."

The boat originally cost roughly $400,000. To replace it now, it would cost more than $1 million, Mr. Taylor said.

After seeing pictures of the boat in the winter with icicles hanging from it, a woman from Chevy Chase, Maryland, made "a very significant contribution," to build a heated storage building for the fire boat to be put in. The fire boat is endowed and the money is only allowed to be used for maintenance and repairs or replacement.

"With her donation to build the part of the building, we ended up finishing and we built a whole new Clayton fire station up on Graves Street in 2005," Mr. Taylor said.

The boat has an extremely shallow draft, which allows it to be pulled up on the beach like waterskis. It has a 900-horsepower engine, twin 450-horsepower diesel engines and a ladder on the front.

The department also carries a hose, oxygen, nozzles and EMS equipment.

"We have to have a little bit of everything," Mr. Taylor said. "When we knew that we were going to a structure fire over on Murray Island, we took more stuff with us, and that night of that call, we not only had Wellesley Island and Alex Bay, we had six other people that helped us including Leeds and Thousand Islands from Ontario."

The summer residence at 42794 Murray Isle was engulfed in flames May 7. The property is situated on the south side of Murray, facing Grenell Island, both off the southwestern shore of Wellesley Island. The blaze threatened a cottage about 150 feet away, but the fire was contained to the first house.

When the fire boat is not in use, it is docked at the 1000 Island Harbor Hotel and remains ready to help the community.

Mr. Taylor said that he is "just part of the team," and that the main goal is to get people to safety.

"Your main goal is to protect your community, and we think we do that pretty well," he said.