TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Tacoma added a new fireboat to its fleet this week. The boat is faster, more agile and more economical to operate than the aging boat it joins in Tacoma.
But The News-Tribune (http://is.gd/6EZ9Nt ) reports the $675,000, 30-foot Destiny does have one thing in common with its fleet mate. Both were built outside the United States. The Destiny was built in Canada and the Commencement was built 30 years ago in England.
The Port of Tacoma and the City of Tacoma bypassed two lower bidders who would have constructed the new fireboat in Western Washington.
At least one of those local boat builders, Northwind Marine of Seattle, is puzzled why taxpayer money was used to create jobs in Canada especially when the boat could have been built less expensively locally.
