New Boat

Baltimore's Fireboats

..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 46 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.

..The house area on the main deck is more spacious than that on our current boat and is designed to include several new features and improvements. The equipment room has been moved topside into this area with a separate locker for gasoline and gasoline powered equipment storage and a medical area has been incorporated for EMS. A command center which also includes a computer with internet access can be activated during a major marine incident.
..The Pilot House will have a Navigation/Chart table with seat located on the port side to be manned by the Officer. A control consul with seat for the Marine Engineer, who will operate and monitor all machinery and systems from that location, will be located on the starboard side. The engine room will not need to be occupied for operation. The Pilot’s station will have a slight step-up so he may have a 360 degree field of visibility around the boat. All house spaces are air conditioned.

..The engine room layout on the new boat is similar to that of our current 1st line Fireboat, “Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr.” There are two main Caterpillar 3512 V-12 diesels driving conventional propellers through reverse reduction gears. Pumping is completely independent of the propulsion engines with two single stage centrifugal pumps rated 3,500 gpm. each at 150 psi. each driven by its own Caterpillar C-18, in-line 6-cylinder diesel. Electric power is supplied by two 55 KW generator sets driven by Caterpillar C4.4 diesels.
..Aft of the engine room in the lazzarette is located the 1,027 gallon aft fuel tank, two 500 gallon foam concentrate tanks, the steering gear, and the Co2 bottle bank for the engine room fire suppression flooding system.
..Forward of the engine room is the crew’s quarters. This includes the galley with sink, refrigerator, microwave and storage cabinets, a head with toilet and sink, and four bunks forward in a berthing area. The space is air conditioned. The forward 1,562 gallon fuel tank is located below the galley deck.

The characteristics of the new Fireboat 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”

..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, and the boat was officially dedicated on August 4, 2007.
..Equipment is being mounted as it comes in, and a number of technical matters are being addressed before the boat is placed in full first line service.

..For pictures of the boat under construction, sea trials, and delivery trip, go to www.baltimorefireboat.com and click on construction photos, and delivery trip.

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