Fireboats of New York City

For much of the late 19th and early 20th century, New York City maintained a fleet of ten fireboats. In recent decades technology has improved to where smaller boats can provide the pumping capacity that required a large boat in the past. ^[1] These smaller boats require smaller crews, and the crews themselves require less training. Like many other cities, the FDNY operates a fleet with a smaller number of large fireboats, supplemented by a number of unnamed boats in the 10 meter range. ^[2]

some fireboats of the FDNY ^{[3] [1]}

image	name	commissioned	retired	dimensions (ft)	pumping capacity (gpm)	notes
	William F. Havemeyer	1875	1901	106 × 22 × 10	6,000
	Zophar Mills	1882	1934	120 × 25 × 12	6,000
	Seth Low	1885	1917	99 × 24 × 9	3,500	Brooklyn Fire Department
	The New Yorker	1890	1931	125 × 26 × 12	13,000
	David A. Boody	1892	1914	105 × 23 × 7	6,500
	William L. Strong	1898	1948	100 × 24 × 12.6	6,500
	Robert A. van Wyck	1898
	Abram S. Hewitt	1903	1958	117 × 25 × 10.5	7,000
	George B. McClellan	1904	1954	117 × 24 × 9.5	7,000
	James Duane	1908	1959	132 × 28 × 10	9,000
	Thomas Willett	1908	1959	132 × 28 × 10	9,000
	Cornelius W. Lawrence	1908	1955	104.5 × 23.5 × 9	7,000
	Velox	1907	1922	68 × 11.5 × 7
	William J. Gaynor	1914	1961	118 × 25 × 13.4	7,000
	John Purroy Mitchel	1921	1966	132 × 27 × 10	9,000
	Captain Connell	1922	1938	56.5 × 12 × 6.5
	John J. Harvey	1931	1999	130 × 28 × 9	18,000	now a private excursion vessel
	Fire Fighter	1938	1999	134 × 32 × 9	20,000	Now a museum ship
	Smoke	1938	1955	53 × 7 × 3.5
	John D. Mc Kean	1954	2010	129 × 30 × 9	19,000	held in retired status
	H. Sylvia A. H. G. Wilks	1958	1972	105.5 × 27 × 9	8,000
	Harry M. Archer M. D.	1958	1994	105.5 × 27 × 9	8,000
	Smoke II	1958	2008	52 × 14 × 4	2,000
	Senator Robert F. Wagner	1959	1993	105.5 × 27 × 9	8,000
	Governor Alfred E. Smith	1961	2015	105.5 × 27 × 9	8,000
	John H. Glenn, Jr.	1962	1977	70 × 21 × 5	5,000	Now serving in Washington DC
	John P. Devaney	1992	1994	70 × 19 × 5'4"	7,075	named after John P. Devaney, a firefighter who died in the line of duty
	Alfred E. Ronaldson	1992	1994	70 × 19 × 5'4"	7,075	named after Alfred E. Ronaldson, a firefighter who died in the line of duty
	Kevin C. Kane	1992	2013	52 × 16 × 4.5	6,500	auctioned off after receiving damage during Hurricane Sandy. [4]
	Bravest	2011	-	64 × 17 × 3'4"	6,000	fastest fireboat of its size [5]
	Fire Fighter II	2010	-	140 × 36 × 9	50,000	one of the largest fireboats in North America [5]
	Three Forty Three	2010	-	140 × 36 × 9	50,000	one of the largest fireboats in North America [5]
	William M. Feehan	2015	-	66 × 18 × 3	8,000	40 knots (74 km/h) [6]

References

1. Brian J. Cudahy (1997). "Around Manhattan Island and Other Maritime Tales of New York". Fordham University Press. pp. 83, 86, 249–250. ISBN   9780823217618 . Retrieved 2015-06-29.
2. "FDNY Annual Report 2012" (PDF). FDNY. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2015-06-30. Additionally, FDNY expects to take delivery of the following 10 boats by January 2013: seven 33-foot boats, two 31-foot medical response boats and one 33-foot SCUBA boat.
3. Clarence E. Meek (July 1954). "Fireboats Through The Years" . Retrieved 2015-06-28.
4. Jon Gast (2017-01-03). "NYC fireboat finds new home in Door Co". Green Bay Press-Gazette . Retrieved 2017-01-05. It was neither of those momentous events that led directly to why that vessel finds itself in Door County, but rather another. The Kane was damaged in Hurricane Sandy, the epic superstorm that ravaged the East Coast in October 2012. The boat was also in need of a mechanical upgrade, so the city opted for a replacement and auctioned it off.
5. Peter Marsh (February 2011). "SAFE Boats International Delivers One of the World's Fastest Fireboats to New York: The 64-foot Bravest Made Its Debut in Seattle" (PDF). NW Yachting magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
6. Peter Kennedy (2015-08-06). "Kingston-built fireboat immortalizes 9/11 victim". Kingston Whig Standard . Retrieved 2015-08-10. Just shy of 21 metres in length, the William M. Feehan is powered by a trio of Caterpillar C-18 engines, each capable of pushing out 1,150 horsepower, with twin fuel tanks splitting 4,500 litres. Running at a top speed of 40 knots (about 75 km/h), it can stop in two boat lengths.

External links

• Media related to Fireboats in New York City at Wikimedia Commons