There’s a new harbormaster in Newport Beach

5 Responses

1. Pingback: There's a New Harbormaster in Newport Beach - Sea Magazine

2. It will be important for the new Newport Beach harbor master to develop a comprehensive fire suppression plan for the private vessels at the 1200 moorings and anchorage areas in Newport Harbor. The current lack of an internal Newport Beach fire department resource to provide fire pumping, dewatering and access by State certified firefighters creates an enhanced risk to the public. Ad-hoc exterior fire attack services by the O.C. Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol, while well intentioned, do not provide the public using the recreational environment of Newport Harbor with adequate fire suppression capabilities needed to rescue persons trapped in an interior vessel compartment fire.
   Each vessel at a mooring or anchorage should be viewed as a residence sitting over a gasoline station floating in the water. The myriad of electrical systems, hazardous materials, confined spaces and volatile flammable and combustible fuels add to the seriousness of the challenge in firefighting efforts for land-based firefighters operating on the water.

3. P. Matheis are you a member of NBFD?

   I can’t remember for sure, but I don’t think there has EVER been a life lost in Newport Harbor because the Harbor Patrol didn’t board a boat and rescue a victim during a fire. Please remind me if there was.

   1. The important question is about the level of training by whomever is tasked with the duty to address fire suppression on the water in Newport Harbor and long the Newport Beach coastline inside the three mile limit from mean high tide. This is the exclusive jurisdiction of the city of Newport Beach. Because of this fact in law I submit that it is important for the City to ensure that adequately trained and staffed fire suppression resources are deployed and fully prepared to respond in a timely fashion 24/7 so as to minimize the risk to the public who may have occasion to be on these waters.
      Orange County Sheriff’s deputies are outstanding law enforcement officers and probably fine vessel operators as well. However, they are not trained firefighters according to the standards established by the Office of the State Fire Marshal and State Fire Training. Further, the minimal fire suppression training received by the good men and women of the OCSD is not a program developed by firefighters qualified to design the curriculum needed for the rigors of interior structural firefighting.
      I am not a current member of the NBFD.

4. Congratulations Kurt on becoming the Newport beach Harbor Master! I am happy to see that your doing well. Sincerely, John Brannon Jr