Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The Green Oak Township Fire Department has received a brand new rescue boat thanks to a grant.

The grant comes from the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. Among the funding areas is providing first responders with lifesaving equipment. The new boat was delivered to the Main Fire Station 81 on Wednesday afternoon.

Fire Chief Kevin Gentry tells WHMI this is the third grant they’ve received from Firehouse Subs, noting they previously received a LUCAS automated CPR machine and several sets of turnout gear.

For this grant, he says they sought to get a new rescue boat with the forthcoming opening of the new fire headquarters at Silver Lake Road and Whitmore Lake Road – which will allow the department to have a rescue boat both on the Silver Lake side and at the Rushton Road Fire Station where their current boat sits. Gentry said now, they’ll be able to have rescue boats on both sides of the township with on-duty crews ready to respond to water emergencies.

The boat is a 15-foot inflatable rescue boat that can be launched from a boat ramp, backed down a hill with a trailer, or picked up by six firefighters and taken into the backyard of whatever lakefront property might be having a problem. Gentry said they chose the boat because it can be deployed wherever the emergency is very quickly.

Gentry said the boat serves a number of purposes as they traditionally respond to several water emergencies every year - noting there are 19 navigable bodies of water in the township so they have a lot of water to protect. He said most often it’s either a water rescue or unfortunately a drowning-type situation. Gentry said they rescue boaters and swimmers in distress and occasionally respond to a fire on a boat. The boats are also used to launch divers from the Livingston County Dive Team in drowning situations as well.

Gentry said the Department covers Whitmore Lake, which is a large lake with public access, as well as a large number of private lakes that don’t have public access but have waterfront homes and lots of people using them. It also covers the Huron River, which runs through the Island Lake State Recreation Area, all the way to the end of the township before flowing into Hamburg Township. Gentry noted they cover all of the state rec area which includes Kent Lake, parts of Island Lake, the Spring Mill Pond, Trout Lake, and the Huron River.