The Fort Ripley, a new aluminum 64-footer built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding in Massachusetts, has a clear mission. It says so in red letters on both sides of the cabin: RESPONSE.
And to prove the point visually, there’s a red firefighting monitor on top of the wheelhouse and another on the bow. So firefighting is an obvious part of its emergency response capacity, but there are other parts of this mission as well, although they’re not the same as most fire/rescue boats.
Back in the days of wooden wharves and wooden boats, fireboats primarily fought fires. Now, not so much. “Maybe 80 to 90 percent of the calls that our boats respond to are not for fires but for rescues and other emergencies,” said Bob Clark, contracts manager at MetalCraft Marine Inc. in Ontario, Canada, the designers and builders of many fire/rescue boats for U.S. municipalities.
But fires still happen, both on vessels and on the beach, and modern firefighting boats are needed to respond, so the ability to pump water — and foam — is very important.
For a new fireboat that Vigor Fab in Seattle is about to start building, pumping is paramount. In fact, Jensen Maritime Consultants, the designer, calls the boat a “super pumper.”
“It’s really more of a pumping station,” said Melissa Hertel at JMC. “A lot of fireboats are all about the monitors, but this one is all about the pumps.”
At only 88' and with just three engines, the new fireboat will still be able to pump a nominal 18,000 gpm at 150 psi while operating in one of its two pumping modes. In the second pumping mode, which Hertel said is very uncommon, the boat will be able to pump 6,000 gpm at 150 psi off the front and another 6,000 gpm out of the back, but at 300 psi, which will allow the boat to pump water to the top of San Francisco’s many hills. “And they don’t have to line up trucks on the beach, they can do it all from the pumps on this boat, which is really unusual,” said Hertel.
Power for the steel and aluminum 88'×25'×14'4" boat will be provided by three Cummins QSK19-M diesels rated at 750 hp each. Two will drive the conventional propulsion system and, alternatively, each powers a pump. The third diesel is a dedicated pump engine. All three 6,000-gpm pumps are CounterFire ESF 300-550s. A pair of 99-kW Northern Lights gensets will provide electrical power. A power takeoff on one of the generators runs a hydraulic pump for the bowthruster.
“It will have a huge bowthruster meant for continuous service,” said Hertel, “which is also an unusual feature. The reason for that is that they like to fight fires by sweeping back and forth and they need the bowthruster to help hold station.”
For a major platform fireboat, the San Francisco boat won’t be bristling with fire monitors. “It has two 3,000s, two 1,500s and two 1,500 [gpm] under-deck monitors,” said Hertel. The monitors are all from Stang.
“They can put out some good wharf fires with those, but it’s really meant to be a pumping station. Just look at the aft deck. It’s got 10 five-inch hose connections. It will also have 10 three-inch connectors on the aft deck and eight three-inchers on the bow. So they will have 18 three-inch and 10 five-inch manifold connections, just for getting water off the boat in hoses, and that’s enormous for a boat this size.”
Construction of the boat will begin this fall in Seattle and will take about a year to complete.
FORT RIPLEY
With only a single 3,500-gpm Hale fire pump, a small foam injection system and two monitors, the Fort Ripley won’t begin to rival the new San Francisco boat with its pumping power. But the boat isn’t intended to primarily be a fireboat, although fighting fires is important in its homeport of Charleston Harbor.
The owner-operator is Southeast Ocean Response Services, a sister company to the Charleston [S.C.] Branch Pilots Association, and the new boat was designed and built to satisfy a Coast Guard requirement for emergency response to ships in distress.
Designed jointly by Gladding-Hearn and C. Raymond Hunt Associates, the deep-V Fort Ripley measures 64'×21'×10'6" and is powered by three 700-hp Volvo Penta engines with Volvo IPS steerable pod drives that push the new boat to over 28 knots, loaded. Perhaps we should say “pull the boat” because the IPS drives feature two forward-facing, counter-rotating propellers that pull vessels through the water, according to Volvo Penta.
“It’s very efficient,” said Peter Duclos, president of Gladding-Hearn. “Essentially, we’re doing with 2,100 horsepower what would otherwise have taken 2,800 horsepower. The whole package is from Volvo Penta, and that’s a good thing. The software, the control system, the exhaust integration, it’s all very important to make this thing work. It’s a different way of thinking about things, and it’s not for everybody, but this is a true offshore boat, and it’s working very well.”
Another nifty feature of the Volvo Penta IPS system on the Fort Ripley is dynamic positioning. “So when they get to the scene of a fire, they hit the DPS, clutch in the fire pump and the boat stays in position. We proved it when we went offshore in three-foot seas and pumped water for half an hour and the boat didn’t move. It was impressive,” said Duclos.
Another important response feature of the boat is the communications system with two KVH satellite antennas. “One is for regular television reception,” said Duclos, “and the other is for Internet communications and the ability to stream video. They can go offshore, day or night, and take live video and stream it back to an expert on shore to get checked out. This is an important part of the assessment side of the emergency response plan.”
The Fort Ripley is also Coast Guard approved for 12 passengers and will work as a back-up pilot boat in addition to its response mission.
FIREBOAT 20
In Seattle, Foss Maritime Shipyard continues to work on a pair of 108' fireboats for the Port of Long Beach, Calif. Designed by Robert Allan Ltd., the two boats have Voith Schneider propulsion systems and 41,000-gpm pumping power, making them among the most powerful anywhere. Each boat will have four identical Caterpillar 3512C engines — two are dedicated pump engines and two turn both pumps and propulsion. A fifth engine, a Cat C12, will power an additional firefighting pump. Two more Cats drive a pair of generators.
Originally, the first of the two was to have been delivered early this year. In May, Foss held a blessing ceremony for the first boat, Fireboat 20, and said it would be ready for delivery during the summer. Delivery of the first boat is now expected in November, according to the Port of Long Beach.
Jensen Maritime is under contract with the port as the owner’s rep during construction, and JMC’s Sean Testa reported that the shipyard is making progress. “It’s a little slower than we wish it would be, but as long as we’re making sure the quality is in there, we’re all pretty happy, at least for now.”
Guido Perla & Associates, Seattle, has also been involved in this project, providing engineering support.
GUARDIAN
With only a 22-footer to respond to emergencies in the busy and often bumpy waters around Port Townsend, Wash., East Jefferson [County] Fire Rescue went looking for both a new boat and money to build it with. Bill Beezley, public information officer for EJFR, said he started making cold calls to other fire departments inquiring about their boats and how they funded them. That led him to apply for a port security grant and ultimately received $455,000, which the department used to purchase the Guardian, a 33'×10' aluminum boat built by Lee Shore Boats in nearby Port Angeles. The price was originally for an Argus-class 30-footer with twin Yamaha 250s and a 330-hp Kodiak inboard engine to drive a fire pump and a waterjet. But with the need for a full-length casualty bench that would accommodate a Stokes basket, Lee Shore agreed to build a 33-footer for the same price as the 30-footer. Argus-class boats were originally designed by Ivan Erdevicki and built by Northwind Marine in Seattle.
The inboard gasoline engine and fire pump can put out 1,250 gpm at 125 psi or 3,000 gpm at 50 psi. Top speed is 40 knots with just the outboards and 46 knots with the waterjet engaged.
Other equipment includes a FLIR infrared camera and a remotely controlled bow monitor from Task Force Tips.
A starboard side dive door, hinged horizontally just above the waterline, folds down into the water to facilitate in-water rescues and divers.
“It’s got everything we needed and nothing that we didn’t,” said Beezley.
METALCRAFT MARINE
Fire/rescue boats have become a major line of business for MetalCraft. The aluminum boatbuilder’s Firestorm series ranges from 27' to 70' and has been purchased by municipalities all over North America. The company’s most recent delivery was a Firestorm 50 built for the Alexandria (Va.) Fire Department. The 50'×15'10" boat is powered by twin Caterpillar C18s each rated at 915 hp with Rolls-Royce FF37 waterjets controlled by Vector joysticks. The boat has no steering wheel. Top speed is 44 knots.
Two Hale 3500 fire pumps, powered off the front of the Cats, put out 7,400 gpm through four monitors and four 5" Storz connectors.
Other equipment includes breathable air for up to four masks from a central tank for firefighters and three oxygen outlets for patients.
MetalCraft’s Clark said the number of fireboats it’s building is slowing down, but the revenue is steady. “There’s actually quite a bit of grant money available,” he said. “The reality though is that they’ve become more picky about who gets it.”
In October, MetalCraft will deliver a Firestorm 70 to New York City. “This is quite a departure from our normal 70,” said Clark. “It’s really built around speed, so we made changes to the bottom, it’s narrower with more deadrise. It’s also quite a bit lighter. This is the first time that I’ve seen a fire department go with less firefighting power in exchange for speed and the ability to get to a rescue faster. Usually fire departments want all the pumping they can get.”
OREGON IRON WORKS
The first of two new fast-response fire/rescue boats for the city of Portland, Ore., was undergoing sea trials in August. With a mandate to provide emergency response on long stretches of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, the 54'×16' boats are powered by twin MTU 8V2000 M84 main engines, each rated at 1,085 hp at 2,450 rpm, turning ZF reduction gears and Rolls-Royce waterjets. Each MTU will also drive a 3,500-gpm fire pump off the front end. “These are flooded pumps,” said Portland Fire & Rescue project manager Tim Von Seggern, “so we’re looking at about 8,000 gpm out of both pumps” for three monitors and numerous hose connections both forward and aft.
Oregon Iron Works, Clackamas, Ore., has built over 300 boats for Army Special Forces and other military buyers, but the Portland fireboats are the first of this variety for the company, which merged with Vigor Industrial during the production of the Portland boats.
MOOSE BOATS
Petaluma, Calif.-based Moose Boats is no stranger to the fast-response fireboat market, having built many of its signature aluminum catamarans for municipalities all over the U.S. for many years.
Currently under construction is a M2-38 for the Bellingham (Wash.) Fire Department. Twin 425-hp Cummins QSB6.7 engines coupled to Hamilton HJ292 waterjets and Twin Disc gears provide propulsion and pumping power through dual Hale 1,000-gpm pumps. The fire system will also include a foam tank, dual monitors and 5" Storz connections both forward and aft. The cabin will have CBRN positive pressure air filtration. A custom bow ladder will facilitate beach landings.
Moose is also building a pair of outboard-powered emergency response vessels for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for operation in the waters around JFK and LaGuardia airports. The M2-35s will be equipped with self-contained Darley fire pumps and will also carry 20 12-person life rafts.
