Officials with the Denver Fire Department in North Carolina are trying to determine how the department's year-old fire boat became submerged at the dock Saturday.
WCNC reports the boat was in about 15 feet of water and investigators are looking at weather as a factor.
"Reports are that they had 3-to-5 foot seas on Lake Norman last night with the storms that came through,” said (public information officer Dion) Burleson. “About three and a half inches of rain fell in a very short period of time."
Burleson told WCNC the manufacturer says this is the first incident with this type of boat and is sending a replacement until the department's is fixed.
Read WCNC's full story here.
There is a lot more to this story than is written here. There are some internal / personnel issues, as well as a previous incident with another boat. This story is not over yet. No way this boat should have sunk. I'm with another Fire Agency in the Lake Norman area and I will say that this was a fantastic boat that provided an excellent service – I hope Denver get's this boat and issue fixed ASAP.