The city of Vancouver, British Columbia, has operated fireboats since 1928, when the city introduced the J.H. Carlisle. [1]
At the time, the shores of False Creek were lined with industrial facilities, mainly sawmills. The owners of these businesses committed to pay for the construction of a fireboat provided it would be stationed in False Creek, as the boat's presence reduced the cost of their fire insurance. The new fireboat was named in honour of Vancouver's longest serving fire chief, John Howe Carlisle.
In 1951, the city launched its second fireboat, Fireboat No. 2. At the time it was considered one of the most powerful in the world.
The J.H. Carlisle was retired in 1971, while Fireboat No. 2 worked until 1987, at which time it was sold to the city of San Francisco. Renamed the Guardian, it was retired in 2022.
Beginning in 1992, the city of Vancouver received five new fireboats. Designed by Robert Allan Ltd. and built by Celtic Shipyards, the new boats not only served Vancouver but operated throughout the Lower Mainland as part of a new consortium between the cities of Vancouver, Port Moody, Burnaby, and the city and district of North Vancouver.
By 2015, four of the 1992-built boats were still in service, but had exceeded their planned 20-year operational life. The vessels had such low pumping capacity that authorities would dispatch two boats to each fire. [2] In 2016 it was announced that the city would receive two new fireboats built by MetalCraft Marine of Kingston, Ontario. The boats would replace three of the remaining 1992-built boats, while one would be kept as a reserve.
While the first of the new boats entered service in September 2016, the second boat caught fire during transport, delaying its delivery by several months. [3] The fire on the second boat resulted in it being deemed a total loss, with a new boat being built to replace it. The replacement boat entered service roughly a year later.
On July 7, 1938, CPR Pier D caught fire. The J.H. Carlisle together with crews on land battled what was described as Vancouver's "most spectacular fire" [4] for hours. At one point the heat grew so intense that four firefighters battling the blaze from a raft were forced to leap into the water after their hose was burned through.
On March 6, 1945, the freighter Greenhill Park exploded at a pier on Burrard Inlet. The blast killed 8 longshoremen, injured a further 19 and shattered windows across the city. With WWII still in its final stages, many initially thought the explosion was the result of a Japanese attack.
In 1959 the Norwegian freighter Ferngulf exploded in Burrard Inlet, killing two and seriously wounding several more. There was no intervention by the city's fireboats or other rescue personnel. [5] An inquiry determined that the city's rules only allowed the fireboat to leave the city when directed to do so by the mayor. [6] Changes were made to the Canada Shipping Act, empowering a "rescue coordinator" to order rescue vessels to sea.
On July 3, 1960, a fire broke out at the BC Forrest Products Mill on the south shore of False Creek, resulting in Vancouver's first five-alarm fire. The fire was contained, although most of the mill was burnt down before it could be extinguished.
On March 4, 2015, a fire broke out in a container containing trichloroisocyanuric acid at Port of Vancouver. Warnings were issued to people living in the vicinity to stay at home and lock their doors and windows to prevent toxic smoke from entering. [7] Two fireboats attended, and together with crews on land, were able to extinguish the blaze with minimal damage.
Image | Name | Built | Retired | Length | Pumping Capacity | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
J.H. Carlisle | 1928 | 1971 | 60 feet (18 m) | 6,000 GPM [8] | ||
Fireboat No. 2 | 1951 | 1987 | 88 feet (27 m) | 20,000 GPM | Sold to San Francisco in 1990 | |
Fireboat 1 | 1992 | 20-- | 40 feet (12 m) | 2,000 GPM | ||
Fireboat 2 | 1992 | 20-- | 40 feet (12 m) | 2,000 GPM | ||
Fireboat 3 | 1992 | 20-- | 40 feet (12 m) | 2,000 GPM | ||
Fireboat 4 | 1992 | 20-- | 40 feet (12 m) | 2,000 GPM | ||
Fireboat 5 | 1992 | 20-- | 40 feet (12 m) | 2,000 GPM | ||
Fireboat 1 (FB-1) | 2016 | Present | 43 feet (13 m) | 7,500 GPM | ||
Fireboat 2 (FB-2) | 2018 | Present | 43 feet (13 m) | 7,500 GPM |
The Second Narrows Rail Bridge is a vertical-lift railway bridge that crosses the Burrard Inlet and connects Vancouver with the North Shore. The bridge's south end connects directly to the Thornton Tunnel, which connects it to the main Canadian rail network. As the name suggests, it is located at the second narrowing of the Burrard Inlet.
Belcarra is a village on the shore of Indian Arm, a side inlet of Burrard Inlet, and is part of Metro Vancouver. It lies northwest of Port Moody and immediately east of the Deep Cove area of North Vancouver, across the waters of Indian Arm. Isolated by geography on a narrow peninsula, Belcarra is accessible by a single winding paved road or by water. Before incorporation it was commonly known as Belcarra Bay.
Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided fjord in northwestern Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the lowland Burrard Peninsula to the south from the coastal slopes of the North Shore Mountains, which span West Vancouver and the City and District of North Vancouver to the north.
The Burrard Peninsula is a peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, bounded by the Burrard Inlet to the north, the Georgia Strait to the west, the North Arm of Fraser River to the south, and the Pitt River and Douglas Island to the east. The City of Vancouver occupies almost all of the western half of the peninsula, and the Cities of Burnaby and New Westminster occupy more than half of the eastern half. At its northeastern end, the peninsula is connected to the Eagle Mountain and Mount Burke of the Coast Mountains via a small isthmus at the center of the Tri-Cities.
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Vancouver gained its first fireboat in 1928 when J.H.Carlisle, named for the city's long-serving fire chief, went into commission on False Creek.
One of the older boats has already been sold. Another is placed on reserve, so the department currently only has three fireboats in operation, and Engler described them as having "rotted" hulls and rare replacement parts that have to be custom machined.