LINCOLN – Whenever the Lincoln Fire Department needs to rescue somebody from a body of water, it usually relies upon what it can commandeer from firefighters or passers-by, Deputy Fire Chief Hervey Clay said Monday.

All that will change when the department’s new rescue boat goes on line next month.

Purchased thanks to fundraising by the Lincoln Fire Co., a private nonprofit corporation that promotes the Lincoln Fire Department, the 14-foot Achilles SC-140 semirigid inflatable boat is being outfitted for service, Clay said.

Firefighters received it Aug. 4 and began training on it at Mattanawcook Lake on Sunday. They say the boat should be quite useful and almost infinitely versatile.

“We have 13 lakes in town, plus the river, and we have never had a capability of rescue services to any of that water area,” said Rusty Burnham, an assistant chief and member of the Lincoln call company, a more than 30-member organization that provides the Fire Department with part-time and volunteer help.

“With this, now we can offer rescue services during times of open and closed water,” he added. “If the ice is thin and somebody goes through, the boat can be pushed out through the ice by a couple of people in rescue suits. The rescue can be accomplished without people getting injured or in great danger.”

Capable of carrying 1,960 pounds and weighing only 224 pounds, the boat is made of Kevlar. That’s tough enough to stop a .38-caliber bullet. It can easily be carried by two and can be used in rescues on snowmobile trails, in flooding, or to fight forest fires from bodies of water, Burnham said.

“It can help us year round,” Fire Department engineer Shaughn Millett said.

The fire company raised more than $10,000 to buy the boat, a trailer and a 20-horsepower outboard motor, said Frank Hammond Sr., the Fire Department safety officer and a member of the call company. It is still raising money to purchase floating ropes, personal flotation devices and some cold-water rescue suits.

The Fire Department has to finish training on it, write procedures regarding its use and finish outfitting it. That should take about a month, Clay said.

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