Fireboat "John R. Frazier"

Baltimore's Fireboats

..The 87 foot, 7,000 g.p.m., Fireboat No.1, “John R. Frazier", is the first new large steel-hull addition to Baltimore's fireboat fleet in 47 years. Placed in active service on November 29, 2007, she stands ready to be put to the test at fires and other marine incidents in Baltimore Harbor, or out on Chesapeake Bay.
..This vessel is manned with a crew of 5, which includes 1 Fire Officer, 1 Marine Pilot, 2 Marine Engineers, and 1 Firefighter. Members holding the position of Marine Pilot, or Marine Engineer are required by the City of Baltimore to have a U.S. Coast Guard License.
..She has served her career to this point with Fire Boat Company No.1 at Fort McHenry.

John R. Frazier
1936 - 2007



The characteristics of the Fireboat John R. Frazier are as follows:

Builder – Hike Metal Products Ltd., Wheatley, Ontario, Canada

Naval Architect – Robert Allan Ltd., Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Commissioned – August 4, 2007, as Fire Boat No.1

Cost - $6,142,900

Official Number –

Construction - steel hull and deck, aluminum upper works

Length overall - 87 feet

Beam - 22 feet

Depth of hull - 12 feet 4 inches

Full load draft - 7 feet 3 inches

Tonnage - 140 Long Tons

Fuel capacity - two (2) tanks with total capacity of 2,589 gallons

Maximum speed - 16 knots

Propulsion - Twin screw, two (2) Caterpillar, V-12, 3512B diesels, rated 1,650 hp. each, @ 1,800 rpm.
------------------each turning a 61 inch, 5 blade propeller through a ZF Model 4650 reduction gear with
------------------a 3.04 to 1 ratio.

Fire pumps - two (2) single stage Aker Kvaerner centrifugals, rated 3,500 gpm. each @ 150 psi.,each
------------------driven by a Caterpillar, C-18, in-line 6 diesel, rated 715 hp. each @ 2,100 rpm.

Discharge outlets - Sixteen (16),
--------------------------thirteen (13) 2½”, 10 at manifold on aft side of deck house , and 3 on forward side of pilot house
--------------------------three (3) 5", two on manifold on aft side of deck house, and one on forward side of pilot house.

Foam - 1,000 gallons of 3% concentrate, in two (2) 500 gallon tanks

Monitor pipes - four (4) FFS

Hose - 1,200' of 3", and 1,200' of 1 ¾”

..In April of 2005, CDI Marine, of Severna Park, MD was retained by the City of Baltimore to develop and supervise a project for the building of a new Class A Fireboat. Initially, a lot of preliminary ground work was required to determine exactly what the City would need. It has been 47 years since the last Fireboat was built for Baltimore and a lot has changed around the Harbor since our current first line Fireboat was placed in service a half century ago.
..A careful study was conducted of the many facilities and type of vessel traffic to be protected in the Port. Our Fireboat journals were researched back 20 years to see the amount and type of service provided, including a tabulation of volume and pressures of water pumped, foam used, hose used, duration of incidents and distances traveled.
..With Baltimore City operating the only large Fireboat on the upper Chesapeake Bay, consideration was also given to our regional responsibility and what additional resources we would need to bring to an incident to augment the marine firefighting forces of other Fire Departments.
..In October of 2005, a contract was awarded to successful bidder, Hike Metal Products Ltd., of Wheatley, Ontario, Canada for the construction of a new Class A fireboat for the Baltimore City Fire Department. The vessel was completed in May of 2007, with sea trials being conducted on May 14th, through the 18th.


..On the morning of June 2, 2007, the John R. Frazier departed Hike Metal under its own power, and arrived at the Fort McHenry Fireboat Station in Baltimore Harbor on the evening of June 9, 2007.
..During the month of June and July, daily training for the crew was conducted out on the harbor, with the boat being dedicated on August 4th. Equipment was mounted as it came in and other warranty and general clean-up work was completed over the next several months. The "Frazier" was officially activated with the fleet on November, 29 2007.




..Below are pictures of the machinery in the engine room along the port side of boat. The starboard side is identical. Pumping and propulsion functions are completely independant with the boat being able to pump full capacity and apply full propulsion power at the same time.