Kingston is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,099 at the 2010 census. Kingston is along the shores of Appletree Cove and Puget Sound, and is home to a major Washington State Ferry terminal linking it to Edmonds.
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.
The John H. Glenn Jr. is a fireboat stationed on the Potomac and Anacostia rivers in Washington, D.C. Her bow was reinforced in 1984, and allows her to also serve as an icebreaker during the winter.
The Discovery is a fireboat launched on the Columbia River in 2014. The new vessel will be operated by the Vancouver Fire Department. The vessel's water cannons can pump 3,000 US gal/min (11,000 L/min) and is the city's first dedicated fireboat.
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 Robert L. Bedell is a fireboat operated by the Norwalk Connecticut Fire Department. The vessel was supplied to the city via a Department of Homeland Security grant through the Port Security Grant Fund. She was ordered in 2009 and delivered in October 2012.
The Nathan Hale is an emergency vessel operated by the city of New Haven, Connecticut. She serves both the New Haven Fire Department and the New Haven Police Department.
Because water transport is an important industry on the rivers of the Mississippi River system, there are a number of fireboats on the Mississippi River system.
Fireboats in San Diego have been operated on San Diego Bay by the city of San Diego, California since the early 20th century, as well as by the Port of San Diego since its creation as a quasi-governmental agency serving the entire Bay in 1962.
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.
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.
During the early 20th century large and powerful fireboats were operated in Duluth, Minnesota. In 1920 both the Duluth, Mesaba & Northern Railway Company and the Duluth & Iron Range Railway Company operated fireboats in Duluth, the William A. McGonacle and the Halle.
California's major ports have long traditions of maintaining dedicated fireboats, and, soon after Al Qaeda's attack on September 1st, 2001, FEMA started issuing port security grants equipping fireboats for California's smaller ports, that are also equipped to work when hazardous materials have been released.
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 Mary Firstenburg is a fireboat operated by Clark County Fire & Rescue. She was commissioned on March 16, 2014. She purchased through a FEMA Port Security Grant.
North Kingstown, Rhode Island began operating a new 37 feet (11 m) fireboat named Marine 5 in 2013. The vessel was partially paid for by a FEMA Port Security Grant. The North Kingstown Fire Department is part of the Narragansett Bay Marine Task Force.
Newport, Rhode Island acquired a new fireboat, named William H. Connerton, Jr. on April 23, 2018. Approximately seventy-five percent of the vessel's cost was covered by a FEMA Port Security Grant. $887,642.00 was paid for by FEMA, $267,500 was paid by the Newport Fire Department, but $200,000 of that was donated by Peter Kiernan III a local philanthropist.
The Philadelphia Fire Department started operating the fireboat Independence in 2007. The vessel cost $5 million, $4.5 million of which came from a FEMA Port Security Grant.
In 1924 Norfolk, Virginia commissioned the first of a number of fireboats in Norfolk, Virginia. She was a former US Navy vessel, USS Gen. Harvey H. Brown, re-christened Vulcan. Vulcan was a steam-powered vessel, requiring a crew of 18. She could project 6,000 US gallons (23,000 l) per minute. She served until 1941.
