M/V Commencement is a fireboat operated by the Tacoma Fire Department (TFD) in Tacoma, Washington. [1]
A fireboat 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.
Tacoma is a midsized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Seattle, 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to the 2010 census. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third-largest in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population around 1 million.
Commencement is powered by two 535-horsepower engines and a 300-horsepower marine diesel engine that provides power to six 24-inch aluminum alloy fans which can be used to create an air cushion under the vessel, similar to a hovercraft. The ship has a maximum speed of 30 knots. [2]
In 2005 Commencement was renovated and refitted with a Port security grant provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. [1] [3]
Fireboat No. 1 is a historic fireboat on display in a permanent land installation on the waterfront in the Old Town area of Tacoma, Washington. Built in 1929, she was for more than fifty years the sole firefighting vessel for the Port of Tacoma. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1980.
The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) provides fire and emergency medical services to the City and County of San Francisco, California. The San Francisco Fire Department, along with the San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco Sheriff's Department, serves an estimated population of 1.4 million people, which includes the approximately 850,000 citizens residing in the 47.5 square miles (123 km2) of San Francisco (including Treasure Island, Yerba Buena Island, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the San Francisco International Airport, and the Presidio of San Francisco/Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Edward M. Cotter is a fireboat in use by the Buffalo Fire Department at Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally named William S. Grattan, she was built in 1900 by the Crescent Shipyard of Elizabeth Port, New Jersey. Due to age she was rebuilt in 1953 and renamed Firefighter upon her return to service. The following year she was renamed Edward M. Cotter. Her namesake, Edward Cotter, was a Buffalo firefighter and leader of the local firefighters union who had recently died.
Ralph J. Scott, also formerly known as Fireboat #2, is a 100-foot (30 m) fireboat that was attached to the Los Angeles Fire Department serving the Port of Los Angeles. She was retired in 2003 after 78 years and replaced by Warner L. Lawrence. Ralph J. Scott is on display near the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro. On 30 June 1989, she was listed as a National Historic Landmark. She is currently located at the Los Angeles Fire Department, Fire Station 112, at 444 South Harbor Blvd, Berth 86, San Pedro, California, 90731
The Port of Tacoma is an independent seaport located in Tacoma, Washington. The port was created by a vote of Pierce County citizens on November 5, 1918. The Edmore was the first ship to call at the port in 1921. The port's marine cargo operations, among the largest in the United States, was merged with the Port of Seattle's in 2015 to form the Northwest Seaport Alliance.
Fire Fighter is a fireboat which served the New York City Fire Department from 1938 through 2010, serving with Marine Companies 1, 8 & 9 during her career. The most powerful diesel-electric fireboat in terms of pumping capacity when built in 1938, the 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 1944, the 1973 collision of the Esso Brussels and SS Sea Witch, and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
The steam tug Echo operated in the early 1900s on Puget Sound.
Concordia was a steamboat that ran on Puget Sound from 1930 to 1976. Although later converted to diesel power, Concordia was the last inland commercial steamboat ever built on either Puget Sound or the Columbia river.
Deluge was a fireboat built for the Milwaukee, Wisconsin fire department. She was christened on 1 April 1949. According to The Milwaukee Journal, "Deluge will be the most modern and one of the most powerful fire fighting craft west of New York city."'
The Mystic Connecticut fireboat Joseph B. Herman II was paid for with funds from the Port Security Grant Program, a special fund to combat terrorism. The fireboat cost $700,000. Following the attacks on September 11, 2001, the US Federal government began issuing generous grants to regional police, fire and other emergency handling agencies, to pay for infrastructure that could be used to combat a terrorist attack.
The Curtis Randolph is a fireboat operated by the Detroit Fire Department. The 74.58-foot (22.73 m) vessel was launched in 1979, and is named after a young firefighter who died in the line of duty in 1977. Mayor Coleman A. Young commissioned the vessel.
The Deanna Jo is a small fireboat operated by the Alameda Fire Department. The city was able to acquire the vessel with the help of matching grants from the United States Department of Homeland Security, which required the city to only pay one quarter of the vessels capital cost. The Department has been providing Port Security grants since 2002, to provide vessels that, in addition to fighting fires, and rescuing boaters and swimmers, are equipped to counter biological and chemical weapons.
Since 2002, the Department of Homeland Security has provided Port Security Grants to ports within the United States, to build fireboats. These vessels are thought to help keep the entire United States safer, because, in addition to fighting local fires, they are all equipped to help counter nuclear fallout, chemical weapons and biological weapons.
Leschi, named for the native American leader Chief Leschi, is a fireboat operated by the Seattle Fire Department. The ship was laid down in 2006 and commissioned in 2007; its sponsor was Sharon Nickels, wife of the then-mayor Greg Nickels.
M/V Destiny is a fireboat operated by the Tacoma Fire Department (TFD) in Tacoma, Washington.
William M. Feehan is a fireboat built for and operated by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). Her namesake, William M. Feehan, was the oldest and most senior FDNY firefighter to perish in the line of duty on September 11, 2001. Her nameplate is carved from a steel plate salvaged from the collapse of the World Trade Center. The vessel's $4.7 million cost was largely covered by a FEMA Port Security Grant Program.
The Fireboat Tiburon is a modern 35 feet (11 m) fireboat acquired by Tiburon, California's fire department in 2006. Two thirds of the vessel's cost was paid through a Port security grant from FEMA, a sub-agency of the Department of Homeland Security. She replaced a used vessel acquired from the Los Angeles Fire Department in 2003.
St. Francis is a fireboat operated by the San Francisco Fire Department on San Francisco Bay since 2016. Also known as Fireboat 3, she was given the official name on October 17, 2016, the anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Local schoolchildren helped pick the vessel's name.
The Salish Star is a fireboat operated by the city of Bellingham, Washington. The vessel cost approximately $1 million. The Department of Homeland Security supplied three quarters of the cost through a FEMA Port Security Grant. The Port of Bellingham and the city of Bellingham provided the remainder.