fireboat

A Canadian Fireboat

A fireboat is a specialized watercraft, often resembling a tugboat, with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires.

They are frequently used for fighting fires on docks and shore side warehouses as they can directly attack fires in the supporting underpinnings of these structures. They also have an unlimited supply of water available, pumping directly from below the hull and can be used to assist shore based firefighters when other water is in low supply or is unavailable, for example, due to earthquake breakage of water mains, as happened in San Francisco due to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Modern fireboats are capable of pumping tens of thousands of gallons of water per minute. The most technologically advanced of these is Fire Boat #2 of the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Warner Lawrence, with the capability to pump up to 38,000 US gallons per minute (2 m³/s) and up to 400 feet (120 m) in the air.

Fireboats are most usually seen by the public when welcoming a fleet or historical ships with a display of their water moving capabilities, throwing large arcs of water in every direction.

Fireboat demonstrating its capabilities

Occasionally fireboats are used to carry firefighters, Emergency Medical Technicians, and a physician with their equipment to islands and other boats. Also hydrocopters, rigid-hulled inflatable boats, and even hovercrafts and helicopters are used in fire, rescue and medical emergency situations. They may also carry divers or surface water rescue workers. Passengers from ships in danger can be also transferred to various kind of rescue boats. Rescue boats may be used also for oil and chemical destruction on rivers, lakes and seas^[1].

List of fire boats

San Francisco Fireboat

• Sir Alexander Grantham - Hong Kong (retired)
• William Lyon Mackenzie, Toronto, Canada
• Edward M. Cotter, Buffalo, United States
• John J. Harvey, New York City, United States
• Warner Lawrence, Los Angeles, United States
• Ralph J. Scott, Los Angeles, United States
• Duwamish, Seattle, United States
• Tacoma Fireboat #1, Tacoma, United States
• Pyronaut, moored at Bristol Harbour Railway and Industrial Museum
• Massey Shaw, London, England.
• William O. Bird II., Sandusky Fire Department, Sandusky, Ohio

References

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Fireboat

• Fire apparatus
• Firefighter
• rigid-hulled inflatable boat
• police boat

External links

• Los Angeles Fire Department Fireboats
• Former NYFD Fireboat John J. Harvey
• Exciting stories from the San Francisco Fire Museum: San Francisco Fire Department Fireboat Phoenix fights Marina District fire after the Loma Prieta earthquake; fireboat Guardian brought to San Francisco from Vancouver through a storm.
• Puget Sound Fireboat Foundation, Seattle's Historic Fireboat Duwamish
• MetalCraft Marine Fireboats - Photos and videos
• Model Fire Boats Website
• Voluntaire Marine firefighters Kring 6 Blusboot de Weer

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