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]
image | name | commissioned | retired | dimensions | pumping capacity | notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
William F. Havemeyer | 1875 | 1901 | 106'x22'x10' | 6000 gpm | ||
Zophar Mills | 1882 | 1934 | 120'x25'x12' | 6000 gpm | ||
Seth Low | 1885 | 1917 | 99'x24'x9' | 3500 gpm | Brooklyn FD | |
The New Yorker | 1890 | 1931 | 125'x26'x12' | 13,000 gpm | ||
David A. Boody | 1892 | 1914 | 105'x23'x7' | 6500 gpm | ||
William L. Strong | 1898 | 1948 | 100'x24'x12.6' | 6500 gpm | ||
Robert A. van Wyck | 1898 | |||||
Abram S. Hewitt | 1903 | 1958 | 117'x25'x10'6" | 7000 gpm | ||
George B. McClellan | 1904 | 1954 | 117'x24'x9'6" | 7000 gpm | ||
James Duane | 1908 | 1959 | 132'x28'x10' | 9000 gpm | ||
Thomas Willett | 1908 | 1959 | 132'x28'x10' | 9000 gpm | ||
Cornelius W. Lawrence | 1908 | 1955 | 104'6"x23'6"x9' | 7000 gpm | ||
Velox | 1907 | 1922 | 68'x11'6"x7' | |||
William J. Gaynor | 1914 | 1961 | 118'x25'x13.4' | 7000 gpm | ||
John Purroy Mitchel | 1921 | 1966 | 132'x27'x10' | 9000 gpm | ||
Captain Connell | 1922 | 1938 | 56'6"x12'x6'6" | |||
John J. Harvey | 1931 | 1999 | 130'x28'x9' | 18,000 gpm | now a private excursion vessel | |
Fire Fighter | 1938 | 1999 | 134'x32'x9' | 20,000 gpm | Now a museum ship | |
Smoke | 1938 | 1955 | 53'x7'x3.5' | |||
John D. Mc Kean | 1954 | 2010 | 129'x30'x9' | 19,000 gpm | held in retired status | |
H. Sylvia A. H. G. Wilks | 1958 | 1972 | 105'6"x27'x9' | 8000 gpm | ||
Harry M. Archer M. D. | 1958 | 1994 | 105'6"x27'x9' | 8000 gpm | ||
Smoke II | 1958 | 2008 | 52'x14'x4' | 2000 gpm | ||
Senator Robert F. Wagner | 1959 | 1993 | 105'6"x27'x9' | 8000 gpm | ||
Governor Alfred E. Smith | 1961 | 2015 | 105'6"x27'x9' | 8000 gpm | ||
John H. Glenn, Jr. | 1962 | 1977 | 70'x21'x5' | 5000 gpm | Now serving in Washington DC | |
John P. Devaney | 1992 | 1994 | 70'x19'x5'4" | 7075 gpm | named after a firefighter who died in the line of duty | |
Alfred E. Ronaldson | 1992 | 1994 | 70'x19'x5'4" | 7075 gpm | named after a firefighter who died in the line of duty | |
Kevin C. Kane | 1992 | 2013 | 52'x16'x4'6" | 6500 gpm | auctioned off after receiving damage during Hurricane Sandy. [4] | |
Bravest | 2011 | - | 64'x17'x3'4" | 6000 gpm | fastest fireboat of its size [5] | |
Fire Fighter II | 2010 | - | 140'x36'x9' | 50,000 gpm | one of the largest fireboats in North America [5] | |
Three Forty Three | 2010 | - | 140'x36'x9' | 50,000 gpm | one of the largest fireboats in North America [5] | |
William M. Feehan | 2015 | - | 66'x18'x3' | 8,000 gpm | 40 knots (74 km/h) [6] |
The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive/hazardous materials response services and emergency medical response services within the five boroughs of New York City.
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.
William Michael Feehan was a member of the Fire Department of New York who died during the collapse of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks. He was the second-highest official in the department.
David Augustus Boody was an American lawyer, businessman, and politician who served briefly as a United States representative from New York in 1891.
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.
Three Forty Three is a Ranger 4200 class fireboat that serves the New York City Fire Department as Marine Company 1. Designed by Robert Allan Ltd. and built to replace the 1954 John D. McKean, it was commissioned at 0900 on September 11, 2010, exactly nine years after the 2001 terrorist attacks. It is one of four New York fireboats currently in active service.
Fire Fighter II is a Robert Allan Ltd. Ranger 4200 class fireboat put in service with Marine Company 9 of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) on December 7, 2010. The boat replaces the original Fire Fighter, and is sister to the fireboat Three Forty Three which serves with Marine Company 1.
As an important port city, Chicago has operated dedicated fireboats since 1877.
The Abram S. Hewitt was a coal-powered fireboat operated by the Fire Department of New York City from 1903 to 1958. She was the department's last coal-powered vessel and had a pumping capacity of 7,000 gallons per minute.
The Bravest is a fireboat operated by the Fire Department of New York City. She was commissioned on May 27, 2011.
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.
William M. Feehan Triangle is a 0.032-acre (130 m2) public green space in the Broadway-Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York. It is bound by Bayside Lane, 164th Street, and 27th Avenue. The triangle’s shape is the result of the street grid imposed on the once-rural landscape of Flushing in the 1920s. Bayside Lane predates the grid, cutting across its numbered streets and avenues in a diagonal path. The park is landscaped with trees and shrubs. In 2002, the New York City Council passed legislation to name the triangle for William M. Feehan.
The Kevin C. Kane was formerly an FDNY fireboat and is currently being refitted as a long-haul tugboat. She was built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding in Somerset, Massachusetts and delivered on December 8th, 1992. She participated in two high-profile events: responding to al Qaeda's attack on the World Trade Center, on September 11, 2001; and the rescue of passengers from US Airways Flight 1549, the airliner that landed on the Hudson River in January 2009. She was auctioned off after she incurred damage during Hurricane Sandy. The vessel was named after a firefighter who lost his life in the line of duty.
John Purroy Mitchel was a fireboat operated by the FDNY. 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 vessels launch on July 24, 1921. Her launch was also attended by current mayor John Francis Hylan.
The Thomas Willett was a fireboat operated by the FDNY. 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.
Washington DC has maintained a fleet of fireboats since 1905. Its largest fireboat is the John Glenn.
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 Alfred E. Ronaldson was a fireboat operated briefly by the Fire Department of New York City in 1994. The boat was named after a firefighter who lost his life in the line of duty.
Governor Alfred E. Smith was a fireboat first operated by the Fire Department of New York in 1961. She was the last of four sister ships. In 1970 the Department planned to retire her, but, instead, she was placed in reserve. She was finally retired on October 21, 2016. Governor Alfred E Smith was built by John H. Mathis & Company at Camden, New Jersey, yard number 216 in August 1961.
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.
t 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.
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.