BALTIMORE — You're looking at one of the first boats to respond on the night of the Key Bridge collapse. It also happens to be one of only four fireboats for water rescues in all of Baltimore County.
"It's only us and a sister company which is Bowleys Quarters," North Point Edgemere Volunteer Fire Department Chief George Theodoroy said. "When we go out, that's it. We're relying on them and us. Backup could be hours away; it could be minutes away."
The department serves a huge portion of the upper Chesapeake Bay area -- 175 miles of shoreline, and 84 miles of waterway. Fireboat 268, the larger of the department's two vessels, was purchased almost 15 years ago. She's starting to show her age.
"It's just not modern enough for what's going on on today's waterways, 268 was bought back in 2008, so it met the specs back then, it just doesn't meet the specs today," Theodoroy told WMAR-2 News.
That was proven on March 26 when the volunteer department spent a full 24 hours out on the water after the Key Bridge collapsed.
We reached out to several other fire departments in our area to see if they're also looking at ways to improve, or in some cases, kickstart their water rescue capabilities. The Baltimore County Fire Department says it's not, but two other volunteer companies say they are. Bowley's Quarters and Middle River volunteer departments are looking at ways to expand their capabilities and secure new equipment.
"We're in the middle of March. It's still cold. There was just not enough room for those guys to operate. We had other assets from other departments operating off our boat that needed way more room," the fire chief recalled.
In the days following the collapse, the department took stock of their equipment and decided to invest in a bigger, more modern boat. Around the same time, a national corporation with a charitable foundation, and a footprint in Baltimore, was looking for ways to help.
"I did a pretty exhaustive search - what charities are out there related to the Key Bridge, what's going on. Somewhere I stumbled upon this, started to do my research and due diligence and ultimately this is where I landed," Andrew Erman, chair of the Aegon Transamerica Foundation’s Baltimore Advisory Committee, said.
Transamerica threw 100 thousand dollars behind the effort to purchase a new fireboat. The company says it's not just a donation, but a call to action.
"We're hoping that other people can join Transamerica Foundation. We made the initial contribution. If other people, residents, businesses, community partners can join in that would be great," Erman told WMAR-2 News.
Because 100 thousand is just the start. The new boat costs 1.2 million. You can donate and find out more information here.
"We're gonna have a decent place to do patient care, bigger pump capacity, more room in general. We're gonna have a closed-in cab, which our members will actually be in climate-controlled, where they won't be out in cold weather, heat. They'll have that ability to be on the water a little bit more than what we can be now," Chief Theodoroy said.
We reached out to several other fire departments in our area to see if they're also looking at ways to improve, or in some cases kickstart, their water rescue capabilities. The Baltimore County Fire Department says it's not, but Bowley's Quarters and Middle River volunteer departments in the county are looking at ways to expand their capabilities and secure new equipment.
On the other side of the water, both the Anne Arundel County and Annapolis fire departments are replacing their fireboats, but that process was already underway before the bridge collapse. The new Annapolis fireboat, which will replace a boat that's almost 20 years old, should be purchased within the next year. It's funded through the vehicle replacement fund in the city budget.
