Pittsburgh's seldom-used fire boat costs taxpayers $1 million annually. Is it worth it?
Pittsburgh's fire boat has been on the water for nearly a decade, but it hasn't seen much action. According to city records, it costs taxpayers more than $1 million every year to maintain and operate it.
The city purchased the Sophie Masloff, named after the beloved late mayor, for $500,000 in 2017 after it could not effectively respond to boat fires and a fire at the Liberty Bridge.
Even though the rivers have been quiet ever since, the bureau has continued to maintain a full-time dedicated crew of two firefighters and a supervisor, with the boat costing taxpayers $1 million a year to staff and maintain. It has an amazing capability to shoot water nearly 100 yards, but it has fought "one or two" fires in its eight-plus years on the Three Rivers, according to Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones.
Still, Jones says it'll be ready if and when disaster strikes.
"Not just the fire boat, but the whole fire service is basically an insurance policy," Jones told KDKA last week. "A lot of people don't want to pay for it. However, they're glad to have it when an emergency comes."
But the question is, could we be getting a bigger bang out of all that money?
"It is currently under-utilized right now," firefighters' union president Ralph Sicuro said.
The fire boat has been out on the water and on the ready in major events like the Fourth of July and the recent NFL draft, and averages about 20 deployments a year. But in addition to preparing for fires or assisting river rescue in some events, the fire union is encouraged that the boat may soon be doing more.
"The bureau is taking the proper steps to seize the asset we have, find better ways to operate and better ways to expand its role, and one of those is in hazmat," Sicuro said.
Pittsburgh is one of the busiest inland ports in the country. In addition to hundreds of pleasure boats, barges and other craft ferry millions of gallons of petroleum and other chemicals up and down waterways. And the city began training the fire boat crew and others to respond to hazardous material accidents and contain chemical spills.
"The guys will be going through training," Jones said. "They just finished some of the training suppression. The training is ongoing. It's a consistent thing."
This way, Chief Jones says the boat will be prepared for any eventuality.
"If there's an emergency, we need to be prepared," he said. "I can't stand on the shore and look at it like everybody else. I have to be able to have tools and resources to interact with it and mitigate any of those circumstances, and the boat is a part of that."
Editor's note: KDKA-TV interviewed Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones last week for this story, before Monday's news that he was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal review.
