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District 5 Fire Protection’s new fire boat

For an hour midday Thursday, the pond behind Bass Pro Shops was the safest body of water in Denham Springs. Anyone who might have been unlucky enough to find themselves in distress in the water would have quickly been pulled aboard a brand new, bright red rescue boat Livingston Parish Fire Protection District No. 5 was testing on the lake. The polymer boat, filled with foam and fitted with a 50 horsepower engine, will soon patrol the Amite River and conduct water rescues on the popular tubing destination. “This boat is pretty much unsinkable,” Chief Joe Koczrowski said. “You can lay this boat almost on its side in the water. Plus, if we get, God forbid, another flood, we can use it during the flood.” Koczrowski said his department made six rescues on the Amite River during the summer months last year, including a baby that wasn’t breathing on the river and a woman who broke her leg. Lacking a dedicated boat, the department had to rely on the city of Central’s rescue boat when responding to calls, he said. The department’s new boat will speed up response times by as much as two hours now that the department won’t have to seek approval from Central when responding to calls, Koczrowski said. “We get stuck waiting for the boat from Central, and their boat is not really made to run the river,” Koczrowski said. Crews will take the boat for monthly maintenance runs on the Amite River, where they’ll be able to map out the best areas to put the boat in and designate mile markers to more easily locate people in distress, Koczrowski said. The boat sinks about 10 inches into the water, allowing it to operate in shallow bodies of water. It can also hold up to eight people rescued from the water, plus the department’s crew operating the boat, Koczrowski said.

- THE ADVOCATE