A few years back, the Anne Arundel County Fire Department was gearing up to order a new fireboat to replace one of its aging vessels. Then, in 2022, another one of its boats sank.
The department, which serves a large area with over 530 miles of Maryland shoreline, suddenly needed to order not one, but two new fireboats.
“The fire chief immediately started to talk to state representatives to see what kind of funding we could get. We had already had it in the future budget to get one boat. It just made sense to get two if we could get the funding,” said Capt. Jennifer Macallair, the department’s director of communications. “We were able to secure $1.5 million in grant money toward one of the boats.”
After considering options from several builders, the department ordered a pair of 50 Defiant NXT pilothouse fireboats from Metal Shark Boats, Jeanerette, La. The all-aluminum Klas-y Lady (Fireboat 19) and Miss Avalon (Fireboat 41) were constructed at Metal Shark’s Franklin, La., shipyard and delivered in August 2024 and April 2025. The price for both vessels was $5.6 million.
A benefit of ordering the two boats simultaneously was that the department was able to get identical vessels. “That allows our personnel to go back and forth and operate either boat pretty seamlessly,” said Chief David Chen.
Designed in-house by Metal Shark’s engineering team, the semicustom fireboats sport deep-V monohulls with outer chines and lifting strakes, and at 50'x16', they are larger and heavier than the other vessels in the department’s fleet, said Chen. Additional stability comes courtesy of Humphree Interceptors installed on the transom.
“We were looking for something able to handle the bay chop in the bay, to cut through that adequately, to provide a smooth ride for both the passengers and patients and the crew, for crew fatigue also,” said Chen. “Between the increase in weight and the change in the hull design, this boat cuts through the chop much better — provides a much smoother ride.”
Metal Shark, which continues to see its list of fire department customers expand, touts visibility as one of the key advantages of its Defiant-class designs. The company’s signature “pillarless glass” improves visibility by eliminating the blind spots common in traditional pilothouse vessels. “The visibility is great,” said Chen. “Within the cabin, they have a really good two-level glass all the way around the pilothouse.”
Each boat is equipped with a pair of MAN V8-1200 diesels that together deliver 2,400 hp to HamiltonJet HTX 42 waterjets through Twin Disc MGX-5146 gearboxes, enabling a top speed of 44 knots. The boats have an operating range of approximately 250 nautical miles when cruising at 30 knots.
“One of our other requirements was the speed — being able to move. These are faster boats,” said Chen, noting that the department’s existing vessels barely reach 30 knots. “There’s an almost 50% increase in speed, which cuts down our [response time].”
The boats have HamiltonJet AVX digital controls, and a Cummins Onan Marine QD 11.5-kW generator provides service power. Electronics include a Raymarine Axiom pro package and a ICOM ICM506 VHF radio.
Firefighting duties are the task of twin Darley ZSF self-priming pumps and Elkhart Brass Spitfire electronic monitors. The pumps, which are driven via power takeoff from the main engines, are rated at 3,000 gpm, “but we’re seeing over 4,000 out of them because they’re mounted below the waterline,” said Chen. “We’re seeing 8,500-9,000 gpm out of the new boats on any given day, compared with about 3,000 out of our old.”
From a port helm fire control station, flow is managed via electronically actuated 8” slow-close valves with manual backups. Each vessel is equipped with a remote-operated electric rooftop monitor, two aft-mounted monitors, two aft dual handline outlets, and two 5" Storz hydrant outlets. Dual 55-gal. reservoirs provide a total of 110 gals. of aqueous film-forming foam per vessel.
