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Canada: Nova Scotia-based AF Theriault & Son Shipyard has delivered a new Robert Allan-designed fire boat, ‘City of Portland’, to the Portland (Maine), USA, Fire Department.
The new vessel serves multiple purposes for the small American city: it is the principal water-borne fire apparatus for the city; it provides emergency medical evacuation services for the residents of the many inhabited islands in Casco Bay; serves as a pumper unit for the small firefighting crews on these islands; and can assist in harbour patrol and lifesaving activities.
To meet these varying demands quickly, the fire boat is constructed entirely of aluminium to keep the semi-planing hull form lightly loaded for maximum efficiency. To ensure that the vessel will be able to get into narrow marina channels and close in to island shores, the 20-metre hull is a svelte five metres at the beam and has a shallow 1.37-metre draught.
To enhance manoeuverability, the vessel is propelled by twin propellers and fitted with a 10kW bow thruster.
The ‘City of Portland’ is powered by twin Caterpillar C-12 engines coupled to ZF 305A 1.75:1 ratio gearboxes through fixed-pitch propellers, giving her a top speed of 18 knots.
By reducing speed to 15 knots, the vessel’s range on her twin 1,000-litre fuel tanks is extended to over 200 nautical miles, with a ten percent reserve.
Electrical power is provided by a Caterpillar C2.2 engine driving a 27.5kW alternator.
Fire-fighting water is supplied via a Hale 3000 rotary vane pump powered by an Iveco Cursor 770 diesel engine.
Class A or Class B firefighting foam can be delivered from on-board tanks through any of the above fittings by a custom FoamPro concentrate injection system.
To facilitate the vessels other main function of emergency medical services, a medical room was built to be an exact replica of the interior of the city’s newly-delivered ambulances, complete with defibrillator, stretcher, and medical equipment storage spaces.
Source: Baird Maritime
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