Boating Safety Unit’s office back at Smiling Cove

Rescue operations at sea are expected to be faster now, as the Boating Safety Unit’s office is back at the Marine Enforcement Facility at Smiling Cove Marina, which was struck by fire in January 2004.

Sgt. Juan Diaz, commander of the Department of Public Safety’s Boating Safety Unit, told the Saipan Tribune that they moved back since last week at the reconstructed Marine Enforcement Facility.

“We’re back here at Smiling Cove, the telephone is not yet hooked up. But our mainline number 664-9180 is hooked up to a cellphone. And our fax number is 664-9168,” Diaz said.

Diaz said after the fire in 2004, Boating Safety temporarily held its office at the government’s housing unit in Capitol Hill.

The distance from Capitol Hill to Smiling Cove somehow has affected the response time of boating safety officers to emergency call, he said.

“We’re up there and if there is a distress call or distress diver, we have to drive from Capitol Hill all the way to Smiling Cove, open up the Bay area, set up the boats and all those things,” he recalled.

Boating safety officers then had to report to their office in Capitol Hill, but all the boats and two jetskis are still placed in the bay area at Smiling Cove. They still utilized the bay area of the Marine Enforcement Facility after that fire.

Now that they are back at Smiling Cove, Diaz said, there is always one police officer that is manning the office.

“If we receive a call, we can start hooking it up [rescue boats], or call the guys from the field to start coming over. But one officer can hook up the boat by himself and took out to the ramp. It is very convenient right now,” the commander pointed out.

The federal funding amounted to $98,000 for the reconstruction of the facility came from the Division of Fish and Wildlife.

Diaz said a new road was also constructed which was part of the original plan when the Marine Enforcement Facility was built.

“It was in the plan to relocate the existing road right here in between the Smiling Cove Office and the dock site because it was planned for emergency exit only for the boats. So now they are using the road over here, it doesn’t disturb us when we’re going out for emergency,” he said.

The fire affected two of their four rescue boats. The plastic devices got melted, but the boats were not burned.

Diaz said they, however, fixed one boat and in the couple of months the other boat would be operational again.

The Boating Safety Unit has four rescue boats and two jetskis. The jetskis were not affected by the fire.

He said they are only waiting for the PTI to install the telephone lines.

The Boating Safety currently has six officers, including Diaz. The other officers are Police Officer 3 Florencio Falig, PO2 Jessie Angui, PO2 Norbert Pua, PO2 David Rabauliman, and PO1Roy Kaipat.

Fire investigators concluded that faulty electrical wiring was the cause of the blaze that broke out at the facility used by the Boating Safety Unit and the Division of Fish and Wildlife at Smiling Cove Marina.

Police said evidence found in the office located in the western portion of the Fish and Wildlife office pointed to the cause of fire.

“Evidence found indicated that an electrical wiring connected to a receptacle on the northern part of that office was overloaded and is the origin of the fire,” police said.

The fire destroyed the Fish and Wildlife offices, while the Boating Safety’s three offices sustained heat, smoke and fire damage.