| Career (Canada) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | CFAV Firebird |
| Operator: | Royal Canadian Navy |
| Builder: | Vancouver Shipyards |
| Commissioned: | 1978 |
| Homeport: | CFB Halifax |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2012[update] |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | Fire-class fireboat |
| Displacement: | 140 tonnes (138 long tons) |
| Length: | 23.1 m (75 ft 9 in) |
| Beam: | 6.4 m (21 ft) |
| Draught: | 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × 365 hp azimuthing Z-drives 1 × hydraulic tunnel bow thruster |
| Speed: | 11 knots (13 mph; 20 km/h) |
| Equipment: | 3 × manually-controlled 3 inch (7.6 cm) water cannon 2 × diesel-driven fire pumps, 2,500 gpm @ 150 psi each |
The CFAV Firebird (YTR 561) is a Fire-class fireboat in the Royal Canadian Navy. Firebird is based in CFB Halifax, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.[1] Her sister ship CFAV Firebrand (YTR 562) is based in CFB Esquimalt.
Her three water cannons can fire water, or fire suppressant foam from her two 250 gallon tanks.[1]
The Firebird suppressed a serious fire in HMCS Toronto's engine room in 2005.[1]
On 22 March 2001 a large container vessel, the Kitano, one day out of New York City, requested help fighting an onboard fire after it had gone to sea.[2] The Firebird proved insufficiently seaworthy to leave the protected waters of Halifax Harbour to go to the Kitano's aid.