HD54 - The Need for Acquiring Fire Boats for Protection of the Hampton Roads Harbor

  • Published: 1989
  • Author: General Assembly. Joint Subcommittee
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 160 (Regular Session, 1989)

Executive Summary:
I. AUTHORITY

House Joint Resolution 160 (1988), patroned by Delegate William S. Moore, Jr., of Portsmouth, establishes a joint subcommittee "to study the need for acquiring fireboats for protection of the Hampton Roads Harbor." Implicit in this charge is a second issue, that of determining funding sources for the purchase, staffing, and maintenance of the fireboats (Appendix A).

II. BACKGROUND

The issue specified in HJR 160 is one of long-standing interest to the state as a result of multi-million dollar investments in the ports through the Virginia Port Authority and its interest in the economic well-being of its residents; to the port area's localities (Hampton, Norfolk, Newport News, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach), for whom the ports are major sources of revenue and employment; and to private industrial, commercial, and residential property owners. As the ports have continued to grow, becoming one of the most important facilities in the nation, concern has mounted over the potential for a devastating fire that could not be contained only by landside fire fighting equipment and tugboats minimally equipped to fight waterside fires. Although no one disagrees that fireboats are, at the least, a desirable and, at the most, an essential component of the Hampton Roads Port facilities, debate has raged over the appropriate source of funds for fireboat acquisition and maintenance.

Two studies, one in 1979 by the Virginia State Fire Services Commission and another in 1984 by the Virginia Port Authority, both acknowledged the need for two fireboats but neither resulted in a solution to the funding problem.

To resolve this impasse, a number of budget amendments requesting money for fireboats were introduced in the 1980's, but none passed. Three amendments to the Virginia Code, one in 1983 and two in 1985, respectively, authorized the Port Authority to purchase fireboats with whatever funds were appropriated, permitted cities as well as counties to establish fire districts, and established the Fire Programs Fund to assist localities in their fire protection efforts. Finally, in 1988, HJR 160 was passed to create this study.

In an additional effort to provide fireboat funds, Mr. George Flanagan, Chairman of the Fire Protection Committee of the Hampton· Roads Maritime Association, approached the federal government through state congressional representatives to inquire about federal grants and property available for fireboats; neither money nor adequate boats were available (Appendix B).

III. DISCUSSION AND PRIORITY OF ISSUES

Little disagreement exists that the ports could use two fireboats; considerable disagreement exists over how they can be financed. A 1987 editorial statement by M. Bill Peterson, president and general manager of WTKR-TV in Norfolk, asserts that:

Hampton Roads is the only major port on the east coast without fire boats. Area fire chiefs have been asking for them for at least 15 years, but neither state nor local governments will spend the money.

In the meantime, tens of millions of dollars of waterfront properties in every Hampton Roads city are only protected by tug boats and borrowed time.

Time ran out for the Fort Monroe Yacht Club pier in 1981. A shallow draft fire boat would have helped a lot in fighting that fire, but there was none. A fire boat would also have been helpful at the Texaco Refinery in Chesapeake in 1983, but there was none. We have to wonder what property will be next, and how many lives will be lost for want of a fast fire boat. In firefighting, you always plan for the worst.

It's time for local cities and the Virginia Port Authority to stop passing the buck on fire boats. WTKR-TV calls for a regional study to divide expenses, and quick action to buy the two boats to cover the harbor.

Two and a half million dollars is small compared to the damage a waterfront fire could do.

With regard to funding the boats, the localities and private enterprise argue that the entire state enjoys the economic benefits of the ports and that localities, especially those with a weak tax base due to state and federal installations, can ill afford an even greater tax burden. The state counters that the Virginia Port Authority believes that its sprinkler systems and other fire suppression methods provide adequate protection to state property, that the localities are the prime recipients of port benefits, that every successful business benefits the state at large, and that providing fire protection to one major economic operation could establish a fiscally destructive precedent in that other predominantly private enterprises would expect state fire or other hazard protection.

To sort out these positions, the study consulted with the Hampton Roads Maritime Association, local fire chiefs, and representatives of local governments and businesses to:

1. Update the desired specifications for the fireboats.
2. Update the cost of purchasing either (i) two new boats or (ii) two existing boats.
3. Update the operation and maintenance costs.
4. Determine whether to buy the boat outright, contract for use and services, or negotiate a lease-purchase agreement.

Once costs and specifications were determined, the study investigated which of the following funding alternatives were acceptable: (i) state appropriation; (ii) creation of fire districts and the proportion of costs borne by each participant; (iii) combination of state and local funds through the Fire Programs Fund established by § 38.2-401; and (iv) creation of authority to administer the boats, with contributions from state, local and possibly federal governments.

The subcommittee also examined the administration of the boats. For example, questions regarding who should supply the crew, who should have title and other legal responsibility for the boats and who should pay their berth and maintenance all were answered before recommendations for purchasing the boats were formulated. Input from local governments, local fire chiefs and the Port Authority was essential to the subcommittee's deliberations.