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.
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.
William Lyon Mackenzie, built by Russel Brothers, named for Toronto's first mayor William Lyon Mackenzie, is a fireboat for the Toronto Fire Services (TFS). It was built in 1964 with a modified Tugboat hull to provide marine fire fighting as well as icebreaking capabilities. In 2004 the fireboat was refurbished and it is expected to be in service until 2037.
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 1944, 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.
As an important river port, there has been six fireboats operated by the Detroit Fire Department.
The Christopher Wheatley is a fireboat delivered to the Chicago Fire Department in 2011. When she was delivered in April 2011, she was the first new fireboat to serve the city in sixty years. She replaced the Victor L. Schlaeger.
The Victor L. Schlaeger was a fireboat operated by the Chicago Fire Department from 1949 to 2010. While the city of Chicago had once operated nine powered fireboats, in the early 20th century, towards the end of her working life the Schlaeger was Chicago's sole large fireboat. She was supplemented by smaller, faster, but less capable boats. In 1986 she was retired from active to standby status, at a considerable savings in personnel, as she had been staffed 24 hours per day by a crew of eight.
The Geyser was a steam powered fireboat built for Chicago, Illinois in 1886. Chicago had operated three earlier vessels, as fireboats, but they had all been retrofits. The Geyser was specifically designed as a fireboat, after Fire Marshall Denis J. Swenie visited eastern cities to learn from their purpose-built fireboats.
The fireboat Joseph Medill was commissioned in Chicago, Illinois, in 1908, and was the first of two Chicago fireboats of that name—the second being commissioned in 1949. When she was commissioned she joined five other fireboats.
The Illinois was a fireboat operated by the Chicago Fire Department. She was commissioned in 1888, and she was then described as the most powerful fireboat afloat. She was one of the first fireboats to have a steel hull at a time when other fireboats were built of wood.
The city of Vancouver, British Columbia, has operated fireboats since 1928, when the city introduced the J.H. Carlisle.
The J. H. Carlisle was a fireboat that operated in Vancouver, British Columbia from 1928 through 1971. It was named for Vancouver's longest serving fire chief, John Howe Carlisle. He was appointed Vancouver's fire chief in 1886, serving in the position for 42 years.
At least six Fireboats in Toronto have helped protect the city's waterfront and maritime commerce.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of the United States' most active inland water ports, has been serviced by multiple fireboats.
The James J. Versluis is a tugboat operated by the Chicago Water Department. She is 90 feet (27 m) long, and built in 1957.
The Eldon Trinity is a fireboat operated in Portland, Oregon, United States, by the Portland Fire Bureau. She was launched in 2010. She is named after two children, Eldon and Trinity Smith, whose mother threw them off a bridge into Portland's Willamette River. Authorities recognized that the attempts to rescue the children exposed weaknesses in the city's rescue infrastructure. Eldon died, while his older sister Trinity survived.
Eugene Blackmon Jr. was a Chicago firefighter and scuba diver, who died in the course of duty, on May 19, 1998. On July 31, 2017, the Chicago Fire Department named a new fireboat the Eugene Blackmon, in his honor.
Harrisburg Bureau of Fire (HBF) is a firefighting agency that is located in and serves Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is a career firefighting agency with at least 15 firefighters and fire officers on duty at any given time, supplemented with volunteer staffing as well. Everyday duties for the Bureau include fire suppression, emergency medical services, tactical rescue, urban search and rescue, water rescue, hazardous materials response, fire prevention, fire codes enforcement, and public safety educations.
Although it is a busy port, there is sparse record of fireboats in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
