Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Ocracoke's Coast Guard Station May Become Seasonal

The Coast Guard has been looking for ways to reduce costs on the Outer Banks and it appears that the already down-sized Ocracoke Station may soon only operate during summer months. Overall Outer Banks operations and personnel were moved in 2005 from Buxton to Group Fort Macon but stations were kept at Ocracoke, Oregon Inlet, and Hatteras Inlet. While the summer months have tens of thousands of visitors, during the winter months the station is responsible primarily for the roughly 700 residents. In addition to extremely slow days during the off-season, crews have also been put into a difficult circumstances with a trailer for a command center and crews were even boarded in a RV for several months. While crews are now residing in temporary rentals throughout the island, the water-locked station is the Siberia of Coast Guard assignments. The Ocracoke station has an important role protecting vessels in the Pamlico Sound and surrounding areas and we hope that funding can be found to keep the station fully operational. More on the station's future is available from the Virginian-Pilot.

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