The letters spelling out the vessel's name, Bravest, were
cut from a piece of I-beam steel salvaged from the remains of
the World Trade Center. The New York City Fire Department had
the steel sent to SAFE Boats International in Port Orchard,
Wash., where a CNC router carved it into individual characters
that were powder-coated and installed on isolators over the
aluminum cabin brow of the new 64' × 17' fast-responder
fireboat built for FDNY.
The steel letters and the boat to which they are attached
will finally arrive in New York City in early 2011. Like many
similar projects, the design and construction of the Bravest
took longer than the involved parties wanted or expected, but
the end result appears to be worth the wait. The new 64-footer
will help FDNY fill the gap between the recently delivered 140'
fireboats from Eastern Shipbuilding Group and a fleet of
smaller fast-responders from SAFE.
The Bravest can pump over 6,000 gpm using two 3,000-gpm Hale
fire pumps to supply four monitors, four handline manifolds and
one large shore connection. The main monitor, which is mounted
on top of the cabin, was supplied by Fire Fighting Systems in
Norway and has a 5,000-gpm capacity. The three 2,000-gpm
capacity monitors were supplied by Elkhart Brass . SBI designed
the boat, and Elliott Bay Design Group , Seattle, designed the
firefighting system.
One of the fire pumps is powered by a 770-hp dedicated
diesel engine from Iveco , and the other is powered by the
middle of three propulsion engines, which are all Caterpillar
C-18s, each rated at 1,000 hp at 2,300 rpm. The Cats are
connected to three HamiltonJet HJ 403 waterjets. Maximum draft
is 39", air draft is 14'6", and top speed during sea trials was
46 knots.
"The New York firefighters say it's going to change the way
they do business. It's going to cut the response time from half
to three-quarters depending on which boat they would have
responded with," said Scott Peterson, president of SBI. "The
low profile, shallow-water draft, shallow-height draft, the
speed and having Purple K really changes the way you fight boat
fires. One of the challenges of most boat fires is you pump
water on it until you sink the boat and then, hey, the fire's
out. This way, you can put out a fire without sinking the
boat."
Purple K is a dry chemical fire suppression agent that is
especially effective against flammable liquid fires. The new
boat carries 100 lbs. of the chemical. The boat is also
equipped with a 200-gal. foam tank.
The 64-footer also has plenty of electrical power. A Kohler
20-kw genset is housed in a deck box just forward of the stern
swim platform. The electrical system includes 220-VAC shore
power, 24-VAC for the engines and 12-VDC for the onboard
first-aid equipment.
A stern tow post and push knees on the bow will allow the
Bravest to move disabled vessels or those in its way during
emergencies. The push knees also support a boarding ladder for
getting on and off the beach or other boats, such as the Staten
Island ferries.
Peterson said FDNY told him it has money in the budget for
another fast-responder, but they want to operate the new one
for a while before ordering the second boat.
The Bravest is the largest boat SBI has built to date, and
it was a labor of love for the crew at the yard. "The guys are
so proud of it, and I'm so proud of them," said Peterson. "It's
new and it's exciting and it stretched us. It makes us better
and stronger and smarter. I'm just extremely proud of our guys,
they did a phenomenal job with the platform."