PORT TOWNSEND — A new system has been installed at the Point Hudson docks adjacent to the Port of Port Townsend to assure fire protection for the area both during normal recreational hours and special events such as the Sept. 10-12 Wooden Boat Festival.
“Everyone in the city should rest assured that we will have adequate fire protection for the Wooden Boat Festival,” said Port of Port Townsend Deputy Director Jim Pivarnik.
Last week, port workers installed a 300-foot pipe system that extends under the dock.
It will allow fire trucks to connect their hoses nearby and distribute water out of any of eight possible spigots throughout docks A and B.
East Jefferson Fire-Rescue Chief Gordon Pomeroy had brought up the topic at a fire district commissioners’ meeting last week, referring to a harbor fire Aug. 2, where an unattended private sailboat caught fire and could not be extinguished by East Jefferson firefighters because its pump was out of commission.
“I don’t know what will happen if there is a fire during the Wooden Boat Festival,” Pomeroy said. “We better hope the Coast Guard will be close by.”
During the Aug. 2 fire, the Coast Guard cutter Swordfish was brought in to fight the blaze, but it could not do so in time to save the boat.
Along with the boat, which sank, any evidence of the cause of the fire was lost.
Even without the new system, Pivarnik doesn’t think that a fire at the Wooden Boat Festival would cause excessive damage because of the number of people who are in attendance.
“Boat fires happen when people aren’t paying attention,” he said.
“No one was on board [during the Aug. 2 fire] so it got out of hand.
“During the Wooden Boat Festival, there will be a lot of people attending and they will be aware of their surroundings.”
Last week’s installation repaired a system put into place just three years ago.
Earlier this summer, during a fire district test of the water distribution system, which had never been used, it “blew apart,” Pomeroy said.
The fire hoses put out 25 pounds of pressure, which was too much for the system, Pivarnik said.
The new system will withstand 30 pounds of pressure, he said.
The pipe itself was not defective but the fittings joining the different pipe sections had to be replaced, he said.
Pivarnik said the system “was not built to our specifications.”
The contractor who built the original system was Caicos Corporation of Kingston.
He said the port did not have to pay for the upgrade. That was covered by Caicos’ bonding agent.
He said the contractor who built the new system, AMO Marine Construction of Poulsbo, “was more experienced with this kind of thing.”
The port plans to install fire protection equipment in its other properties in the next year, Pivarnik said.
The need for the new systems comes from revised city codes, he said.
But Pivarnik said the revisions weren’t needed to ensure safety during the Wooden Boat Festival.
“The Wooden Boat Festival has been around for 34 years and there has never been a fire,” he said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
