The Illinois was a fireboat operated by the Chicago Fire Department. [1] She was commissioned in 1888, and she was then described as the most powerful fireboat afloat. [2] She was one of the first fireboats to have a steel hull at a time when other fireboats were built of wood. [3]
The Illinois was struck by falling debris while fighting a massive fire in 1908, and sunk in 20 feet of water in the Chicago River. [4] She was however quickly refloated, and put back into service.
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Yellowstone National Park is a national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular. While it represents many types of biomes, the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.
Duwamish is a retired fireboat in the United States. She is the second oldest vessel designed to fight fires in the US, after Edward M. Cotter, in Buffalo, New York.
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.
Between 1892 and 1906, Chicago had three cable car tunnels under the Chicago River. Two were built for pedestrian and horse traffic and later converted, the third was built specially for cable-cars. After cable service ended they would be used by electric streetcars.
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.
Ralph J. Scott, also formerly known as Fireboat #2, is a 100-foot (30 m) fireboat that was attached to the Los Angeles Fire Department serving the Port of Los Angeles. She was retired in 2003 after 78 years and replaced by Warner L. Lawrence. Ralph J. Scott is undergoing restoration near the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro. On 30 June 1989, she was listed as a National Historic Landmark. She is currently located at the Los Angeles Fire Department, Fire Station 112, at 444 South Harbor Blvd, Berth 86, San Pedro, California.
Silver Springs State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 1,350 acres (550 ha) in Kendall County, Illinois, United States. The park was established in the late 1960s and is named for the natural spring within its boundaries. The park has two artificial lakes and the Fox River flows through the northern end of the park. Silver Springs hosts a variety of activities including fishing, hunting, boating and hiking. The park has areas of native prairie restoration, a sledding hill and a seven-mile (11 km) equestrian trail. The prairie restoration areas hold many species of plants including lead plant, and purple coneflower.
Massey Shaw is a former London Fire Brigade fireboat, named after the first Chief Officer of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Captain Sir Eyre Massey Shaw. Built in 1935 and decommissioned in 1971, the vessel was restored in the early 21st century and is moored in London's West India Docks.
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.
SS California was a twin-screw steamer that D. and W. Henderson and Company of Glasgow built for the Anchor Line in 1907 as a replacement for the aging ocean liner Astoria, which had been in continuous service since 1884. She worked the Glasgow to New York transatlantic route and was sunk by the German submarine SM U-85 on 7 February 1917.
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.
As an important port city, Chicago has operated dedicated fireboats since 1877.
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 city of Vancouver, British Columbia, has operated fireboats since 1928, when the city introduced the J.H. Carlisle.
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.
The C.D. Scully was a fireboat constructed for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The vessel was owned by Pittsburgh from its completion, in 1956, until its sale to Tampa, Florida, in 1973. She had been out of service for some time, when she was sold. She cost $91,500, in 1956, and was sold for $50,000.
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 Fire Department of New York operated a fireboat named William J. Gaynor from 1914 to 1961.
The David A. Boody was a fireboat operated on the North River, the lower portion of the Hudson River, within New York state. She was built and commissioned in 1892 for the Brooklyn Fire Department and was operated by the BFD until Brooklyn's fleet was merged with that of nearby New York City.
The Illinois was built in the year 1888, and is the newest and most modern fire boat that floats. The Illinois is 118 feet in length, twenty-four feet in depth, and has a hold depth of twelve and a half feet. To construct and fit it out cost about $100,000.
All these so-called fireboats, however, were makeshifts. The Geyser was specially constructed as a river fireboat in 1886, chiefly through the earnest efforts of Fire Marshal Swenie. Swenie had been ordered to visit New York and other eastern cities to examine the fireboat service there. On his return the Geyser was built at an expense of $39,000. The Geyser was also used to open up the river in winter, and in 1887, she rendered splendid service in this way when the river was gorged with ice during the winter, and the flood of 1849 was likely to have been repeated.