Where it began
In December 2017, during the holiday season, a vehicle went off Highway 12 near the Tower Park bridge and into the river. Three people died. It was John Garza's first day working the Rio Vista and Delta area. Garza, a marine captain who had retired from the Fremont fire service earlier that year, saw the problem plainly: on the Delta, crews on land can get to the shoreline fast, but the person who needs help is usually out on the water, where distance, current, and wind decide everything.
Building the capability
Garza and the captains and rescue swimmers of Pacific Coast Water Rescue set out to close that gap. Since 2017 the group has trained and certified more than 150 firefighters in open-water rescue and helped agencies across the region choose and equip rescue boats suited to the Delta. That work brought them together with J&H Marine in Stockton, which added the mechanical side: evaluating, repairing, and outfitting emergency vessels. Over time, one need kept surfacing. The region lacked a large, capable platform that could support a response on the water and double as a place to train.
The right boat
The Oakland Fire Department had such a boat and was looking to let her go. Sea Wolf is a 60-foot aluminum fireboat built in 1994, after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake exposed how vulnerable waterfront infrastructure and city water systems can be. She was built to move water, with a reported capacity of up to 8,000 gallons per minute through four monitors. In Garza's estimation, that puts her among the two or three most capable vessels of her kind in California. Her front-line years in Oakland were short, but her design is exactly what a Delta response needs when streets, hydrants, and docks cannot be counted on.
Two years of paperwork
Buying a city-owned fireboat is not like buying a surplus skiff. Sea Wolf was surveyed to set a fair price, and then the City of Oakland had to work out how a municipal vessel could legally change hands. That took nearly two years. Along the way the city's attorneys made clear the buyer had to be a legitimate nonprofit. In 2025 the group formed Azul Marine Group as a California nonprofit and secured federal 501(c)(3) recognition, creating the structure under which Sea Wolf could be owned, restored, and operated as a public-service asset. The organization was deliberately built to hold more than one vessel over time.
On May 5, 2026, the Oakland City Council approved the sale. In July the city completed its requirements and Azul Marine Group signed the purchase agreement.
July 27, 2026
Five people took Sea Wolf out of Oakland on July 27: John Garza of Pacific Coast Water Rescue, Eric Koster, retired Oakland Fire Lieutenant Scott Hellige, Gregg Heim, and Daniel Murphy Gengler. Leaving the Oakland Estuary, she was met by the Oakland fireboat Bay Wolf and the San Francisco fireboat St. Francis, which sent her off through an arc of water from their monitors. From there the crew ran her up the Bay, under the Antioch Bridge, and on to her new home at J&H Marine in Stockton.
What her second watch looks like
The first job is maritime response and marine fire control. Once she is evaluated, restored, outfitted, and crewed, Sea Wolf gives the Delta a stable platform with serious pumping capacity, room for command, and the endurance to stay on scene. Azul Marine Group does not intend to replace any fire department or law enforcement agency. The aim is a trained, dependable resource that complements what agencies already have and supports mutual aid across the region.
Training comes next. Captains and marine engineers can get hands-on time with vessel handling, navigation, crew coordination, emergency procedures, and the boat's propulsion, electrical, pumping, and damage-control systems. Partner agencies can practice pumping operations, communications, and coordinated tactics aboard a real fireboat before an actual incident demands them.
Beyond response and training, the organization envisions work in marine biology and hazardous-materials awareness, including how Delta tides and currents move a spill and how containment gear is deployed. Delta conservancy tours would give students, civic leaders, boaters, donors, and public-safety partners a view of the region from the water, and the vessel may open a door to maritime, fire service, and environmental careers for young people.
What comes first
None of that happens until the basics are done: surveys, repairs, systems work, safety equipment, insurance, dockage, fuel, training, and volunteer hours. That is the work the organization is asking the boating community to help fund. Sea Wolf is not being kept as a monument to her Oakland years. She is being readied to teach, respond, and protect on the Delta for years to come.
Based on reporting in "Sea Wolf's Second Watch," Bay & Delta Yachtsman, October 2026, pages 34 to 37. Read the full article in the digital issue.
