Fireboat No. 1 - Tacoma, Washington
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 47° 16.931 W 122° 28.638
10T E 539528 N 5236655
Quick Description: Fireboat One is one of only 5 fireboats listed in the register. It can be seen drydocked on the South end of Ruston Way on the Tacoma Waterfront.
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 11/5/2006 6:18:23 PM
Waymark Code: WMXQR
Views: 30
Long Description:
After 54 years of service to Tacoma in waterfront fire
protection, harbor security patrols, search and rescue missions and
water pollution control, Fireboat No. 1 is one of only five
fireboats designated as National Historical landmarks. It is the
only one in the United States to continuously protect a major port
by itself for more than half a century.
Designed by T. McK. Rowlands of Seattle, Fireboat No. 1 was
built in 1929 by the Coastline Shipbuilding Company of Tacoma for
$148,000. It was one of the first vessels on the West Coast built
specifically as a fireboat, rather than converted from a
tugboat.
Some facts about the boat:
It is 96' long and has 7 monitors (water cannons) capable of
shooting 10,000 gallons of water per minute. Equaling the power of
10 fire engines, this capacity was strong enough to knock off the
roofs of shoreline buildings to give access to interior fires.
Twelve firefighters worked in three daily shifts to operate the
boat, which moored at the end of the 11th Street bridge
"Big Bertha," the largest monitor, pumped 6,500 gallons of water
per minute with a spray up to 475 feet.