The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) is the full-service fire department of New York City, serving all five boroughs. The FDNY is responsible for fire suppression and fire prevention, and is a major provider of EMS services in New York City. Beyond fire suppression and EMS, the FDNY is responsible for a broad range of services, including technical rescue, CBRN defense, and structural collapse response and analysis.
A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipment. Older designs derived from tugboats and modern fireboats more closely resembling seafaring ships can both be found in service today. Some departments would give their multi-purpose craft the title of "fireboat" also.
Abram Stevens Hewitt was an American politician, educator, ironmaking industrialist, and lawyer who was mayor of New York City for two years from 1887 to 1888. He also twice served as a U.S. Congressman from New York's 10th and chaired the Democratic National Committee from 1876 to 1877.
John J. Harvey is a fireboat formerly of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) in New York City, famed for returning to service following the September 11, 2001 attacks. She is one of the most powerful fireboats ever built, capable of pumping up to 18,000 gallons of water a minute.
The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) provides firefighting, hazardous materials response services, technical rescue services and emergency medical response services to the City and County of San Francisco, California.
Edward M. Cotter is a fireboat in use by the Buffalo Fire Department at Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally named William S. Grattan, it was built in 1900 by the Crescent Shipyard of Elizabeth Port, New Jersey. Due to age, it was rebuilt in 1953 and renamed Firefighter upon its return to service. The following year it was renamed Edward M. Cotter. its namesake, Edward Cotter, was a Buffalo firefighter and leader of the local firefighters union who had recently died.
Fire Fighter is a fireboat which served the New York City Fire Department from 1938 through 2010, serving with Marine Companies 1, 8 and 9 during her career. The most powerful diesel-electric fireboat in terms of pumping capacity when built in 1938, Fire Fighter fought more than 50 major fires during her career, including fires aboard the SS Normandie in 1942 and the SS El Estero in 1943, the 1973 collision of the Esso Brussels and SS Sea Witch, and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
John D. McKean is a fireboat that served the New York City Fire Department as Marine Company 1. She is named after John D. Mckean, who died in a 1953 steam explosion while trying to save a predecessor fireboat, the George B. McClellan.
Sea Witch was a MARAD Type C5-S-73b container ship built at the Bath Iron Works shipyard for American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines. She operated in the Atlantic trades for five years. So engaged on the evening of June 1, 1973, the vessel was involved in a disastrous collision with the oil tanker Esso Brussels in lower New York Harbor and was damaged so badly that she was removed from active service.
Phoenix is a fireboat owned by State of California and operated by the city of San Francisco in the San Francisco Bay since 1955. Phoenix is known for helping to save Marina District buildings from further destruction by fire following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Her worthy assistance resulted in a second vintage fireboat obtained for the city. Both Guardian and Phoenix are based at Firehouse No. 35 at Pier 22½ of the Port of San Francisco. Phoenix often leads parades of ships, and takes part in welcoming ceremonies.
The city of Vancouver, British Columbia, has operated fireboats since 1928, when the city introduced the J.H. Carlisle.
Zophar Mills was a fireboat operated by the Fire Department of New York City from 1883 to 1958. She was the department's first iron-hulled vessel and had a pumping capacity of 6,000 US gal per minute.
The Seth Low was a fireboat built for the Brooklyn Fire Department in Brooklyn, New York, which operated from 1885 to 1917. Prior to her commissioning the Brooklyn Fire Department had relied on fireboats from neighboring municipality New York City. Unlike her opposite number of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), which had hulls of iron, or steel, the Seth Low was a wooden-hulled vessel.
The Fire Department of New York operated a fireboat named William J. Gaynor from 1914 to 1961.
John Purroy Mitchel was a New York City Fire Department fireboat. She was named after former mayor of New York City John Purroy Mitchel. Grace Drennan, niece of Fire Commissioner Thomas J. Drennan, played a ceremonial role in the boat's launch on July 24, 1921. Her launch was also attended by current mayor John Francis Hylan.
Thomas Willett was a New York City Fire Department fireboat. She was launched in 1908 and retired in 1959. She was built as a steam-engine powered vessel with coal-fired boilers. She was converted to oil-fired boilers in 1926.
In June 1966, the British oil tanker MV Alva Cape caught fire twice in New York Harbor, first in a collision with tanker SS Texaco Massachusetts, and next while unloading cargo, and was subsequently scuttled offshore. Thirty-three people were killed in the collision, the resulting spill of its cargo of naphtha and major fire that ensued. Four more were killed about two weeks later while the emptied tanks were being inerted with carbon dioxide in a misguided attempt to make the damaged vessel safe for transport.
William Frederick Havemeyer was New York City's first fireboat. The vessel entered service in 1875, and retired in 1901. She was named in honor of a recent mayor, William Frederick Havemeyer.
The David A. Boody was a fireboat operated on the North River, the lower portion of the Hudson River, within New York state. She was built and commissioned in 1892 for the Brooklyn Fire Department and was operated by the BFD until Brooklyn's fleet was merged with that of nearby New York City.
SS Vigilancia was a merchant steamship that was built in Pennsylvania in 1890. She sailed between New York and Brazil via the West Indies until 1893, when her original owners went bankrupt. The New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, commonly known as Ward Line, owned her from 1894 until 1914, and ran her between New York and Mexico via Cuba. In 1898 she was a troopship in the Spanish–American War.
United States