fireboat

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A Canadian Fireboat

Fireboat demonstrating its capabilities

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. An example 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 (2.4 m³/s; 32,000 imp gal/min) and up to 400 feet (122 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.

Occasionally fireboats are used to carry firefighters, Emergency Medical Technicians, and a physician with their equipment to islands and other boats. Some may be used as icebreakers, like the Chicago Fire Department's Victor L. Schlaeger which can break 8 to 12 inch ice.^[1] 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^[2].

Also hydrocopters, rigid-hulled inflatable boats, and even hovercrafts and helicopters are used in fire, rescue and medical emergency situations.

List of famous fire boats

San Francisco Fireboat

"Deluge" Retired Fire Fighting Tug

• Deluge - Fireboat/Tug (New Orleans, Louisiana) (retired)
• Duwamish - (Seattle, Washington) (retired)
• Edward M. Cotter - Fireboat/Icebreaker (Buffalo, New York) (active) The oldest active fireboat.
• Tacoma Fireboat #1 - (Tacoma, Washington) (retired)
• John J. Harvey - (New York City, New York) (retired)
• Massey Shaw - (London, England) (retired)
• Pyronaut - moored at Bristol Harbour Railway and Industrial Museum (Bristol, England) (retired)
• Ralph J. Scott - (Los Angeles, California) (retired)
• Sir Alexander Grantham - (Hong Kong) (retired)
• Warner Lawrence - Los Angeles, California (active)
• William Lyon Mackenzie - (Toronto, Canada) (acitve)
• William O. Bird II - Sandusky Fire Department (Sandusky, Ohio) (active)

Departments with Fireboats

Edward M. Cotter

• Baltimore City Fire Department - 1; 1 reserve
• Boston Fire Department - 2
• Detroit Fire Department - 1
• Cleveland Fire Department - 1
• Buffalo Fire Department - 1
• Hong Kong Fire Services - 8 and 4 support vessels (command, 2 diving units, speedboat)
• Honolulu Fire Department - 1
• Los Angeles Fire Department - 5
• New York City Fire Department - 3; 1 reserve
• Newport News (VA) Fire Department
• Portland (OR) Fire & Rescue - 2
• San Francisco Fire Department - 2
• Sandusky Fire Department - 1
• Seattle Fire Department - 3; 1 reserve
• Tacoma (WA) Fire Department - 1; 1 reserve
• Toronto Fire Services - 2
• Miami Fire Department- 2

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fireboat

• Fire apparatus
• Firefighter
• Fire-float
• Police boat
• Rigid-hulled inflatable boat

References

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
• Voluntaire Marine firefighters Kring 6 Blusboot de Weer
• Fireboat Fever - Information and photos of Fireboats from all over the world
• Buffalo Fire Department's Edward M. Cotter Homepage (Buffalo, New York) - Considered to be the world's oldest active fireboat

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