FILE PHOTO | Fire Fighter is still docked in Greenport Harbor despite board’s demand for it to relocate.
The Village Board’s deadline for fireboat Fire Fighter to move from the railroad dock in Greenport has arrived without any action being taken against the historic ship, which remains ported in harbor with no “definite” plans to relocate in the near future, Fire Fighter museum president Charlie Ritchie Friday. (more…)
KATHARINE SCHROEDER FILE PHOTO | Village officials voted Monday to prevent fireboat Fire Fighter museum from docking in Greenport Village.
The Greenport Village Board is officially looking to bid farewell to the controversial Fire Fighter fireboat museum. (more…)
KATHARINE SCHROEDER FILE PHOTO | Fire Fighter remains docked at Mitchell Park Marina.
Plans to move former New York City fireboat Fire Fighter from Mitchell Park Marina to the Suffolk County owned railroad dock have come to a standstill.
Attorneys from the village and the county are trying to determine whether moving the floating museum is permitted under the lease agreement, which reserves the dock for commercial fisherman, according to Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue).
“Fire Fighter is enormous,” Mr. Krupski said. “We would not want to displace commercial fishing boats.”
The review of the lease comes weeks after Greenport Village Board members approved the mooring of the historic boat at the railroad dock by a 3-2 vote with Trustees David Murray and Mary Bess Phillips in opposition.
SEE MORE PHOTOS OF FIRE FIGHTER
The county leases the railroad dock to the village for a token fee of $1 per year, according to Mayor David Nyce. In exchange, Greenport maintains the dock. The county, however, is the final authority on who can use the dock and it has the right to refuse any sublease agreement the village enters into regarding the railroad dock, the mayor said.
The contract between the village and the Fireboat Fire Fighter Museum to dock the vessel at Mitchell Park Marina expired in June. Since its arrival in Greenport in February, the plan has been to ultimately move Fire Fighter to a permanent berth at the railroad dock near the East End Seaport Museum to free up the taxpayer-funded marina for its intended use as a public facility for recreational boaters.
Housing Fire Fighter at the railroad dock has drawn outrage from fishermen, who said the move conflicts with the village’s law to support and maintain a working waterfront. Many have called the overall condition of the boat into questioning.
Though the boat had not been hauled out, it was inspected last fall, Mayor Nyce said.
