Fireboats of Vancouver

Two of Vancouver's five fireboats in 2012.

The city of Vancouver, British Columbia has operated fireboats since 1928, when the city introduced the J.H. Carlisle.^[1]

In 1952 a newly commissioned fireboat, that critics had called a "white elephant" and a "showboat", was able to control a fire that caused extensive damage.^[2]

In 1959 the Norwegian freighter Ferngulf exploded and burned, with two dead and other crewmen seriously wounded, with no intervention by the city's fireboats or other rescue personnel.^[3] A city inquiry determined that the city's rules only allowed the fireboat to leave the city when directed to do so by the Mayor.^[4] Changes were made to the Canada Shipping Act, empowering a "rescue coordinator", appointed by the Federal Ministry of Transport, to order rescue vessels to sea.

According to 24 hours Vancouver, by 2013 the city owned five smaller fireboats, which had all exceeded their planned fifteen year operational life. These vessels had such low pumping capacity that authorities would dispatch two fireboats for each fire. By December of that year one of the five was laid up on reserve, while another had been sold. The city is planning to replace all these older vessels with two more powerful ones. The two new vessels' combined pumping capacity of 13,000 gallons per minute would be approximately three times the total pumping capacity of the five previous ones.^[5]

See also

• Fireboats of Baltimore
• Fireboats of Boston
• Fireboats of Chicago
• Fireboats of Connecticut
• Fireboats of Detroit
• Fireboats of Houston
• Fireboats of Jacksonville, Florida
• Fireboats of Long Beach, California
• Fireboats of New Orleans
• Fireboats of New York City
• Fireboats of Philadelphia
• Fireboats of San Diego
• Fireboats of Toronto

References

1. ↑ James P. Delgado (2010). "Waterfront: the illustrated maritime history of Greater Vancouver". Vancouver Maritime Museum. p. 118. Retrieved 2013-12-12. Vancouver gained its first fireboat in 1928 when J.H.Carlisle, named for the city's long-serving fire chief, went into commission on False Creek. 
2. ↑ "$4 Million Fire Hits Vancouver on Waterfront". Oxnard Press Courier. 1952-04-24. p. 2. Retrieved 2013-12-13. 
3. ↑ "Rescue delay rapped.". Spokane Daily Chronicle. 1959-05-02. Retrieved 2013-12-13. 
4. ↑ Simma Holt (1961-06-20). "Rescue Chief Gets Power To Order Fireboat To Sea". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2013-12-13. 
5. ↑ Michael Mui (2013-12-10). "'Rotted' fireboats need replacing: Vancouver fire department". 24 hours Vancouver. Retrieved 2013-12-12. One of the older boats has already been sold. Another is placed on reserve, so the department currently only has three fireboats in operation, and Engler described them as having "rotted" hulls and rare replacement parts that have to be custom machined.