 FireboatFire Fighter | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 New York City Fire Department | |
| Name | Fire Fighter |
| Operator | New York City Fire Department |
| Builder | United Shipyards |
| Laid down | 1937 |
| Launched | August 26, 1938 |
| Christened | August 26, 1938 |
| Commissioned | November 16, 1938 |
| Decommissioned | July 17, 2010 |
| Home port | New York City |
| Nickname(s) | The Fighter |
| Honors and awards | 1974Merchant Marine Gallant Ship Citation |
| Fate | Museum Ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 220.44 net |
| Length | 134 ft (41 m) |
| Beam | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Height | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Installed power | Twin 1500 hp, 16-cylinder, 3968 CID General Motors Winton diesel engines |
| Propulsion | Twin Westinghouse 1000 hp Electric Propulsion Motors |
| Speed | 14 knots (16 mph) |
| Capacity | 20,000gpm |
| Crew | 7-11 |
Fire Fighter (fireboat) | |
  Location in United States Show map of the United States | |
| Location | Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic CT |
| Built | 1938 |
| Built by | United Shipyards |
| Architect | William Francis Gibbs |
| NRHP reference No. | 89001447 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 30, 1989[1][2] |
| Designated NHL | June 30, 1989[3] |
| Merchant Marine Gallant Ship Citation | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Actions on May 30th, 1973 following the collision of theSS Esso Brussels andSSSea Witch and the rescue of 31 trapped crew from life-threatening fire aboard theSSSea Witch. |
| Presented by | United States Maritime Administration |
Fire Fighter is a fireboat which served theNew York City Fire Department from 1938 through 2010, serving with Marine Companies 1, 8 and 9 during her career. The most powerful diesel-electricfireboat in terms of pumping capacity when built in 1938,Fire Fighter fought more than 50 major fires during her career, including fires aboard theSS Normandie in 1942 and theSS El Estero in 1943, the 1973 collision of theEsso Brussels andSSSea Witch, and the terrorist attacks onSeptember 11, 2001.[4]
Authorized for construction in early 1937 by MayorFiorello LaGuardia based on designs submitted by noted naval architectWilliam Francis Gibbs and his firmGibbs & Cox,Fire Fighter was laid down at United Shipyards as Hull #856 and was christened and launched on August 28, 1938, by Eleanor Grace Flanagan. After fitting out and sea trials,Fire Fighter officially entered service with theNew York City Fire Department at 9:00 a.m. on November 16, 1938, with Engine 57 at Pier 1 atthe Battery, which would later be organized as Marine Unit 1. Serving from this post through the mid-1960s,Fire Fighter would respond to two of her most famous actions; the fire and capsizing of theSS Normandie in 1942 and the fire aboard the ammunition-ladenSS El Estero in 1943, among dozens of other vessel and pier fires acrossNew York Harbor.
Shifting with the majority of commercial steamship line freight operations fromManhattan to theBrooklyn waterfront,Fire Fighter served with Marine Unit 8 and Engine 223 at the 37th Street Pier through 1967 before shifting once again to the Homeport Pier inStapleton where she joined Marine Unit 9, an assignment which made her the first-due marine firefighting asset at the heavily traffickedNarrows of New York Harbor and throughout the tight confines of both theArthur Kill andKill van Kull. With both waterways already heavily utilized by marine traffic calling at ports on theChemical Coast, the rise of both thePort Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal andHowland Hook Marine Terminal saw an increasing number ofcontainer ships transiting the same waters. These conditions led to several major vessel collisions and shoreside fires during her tenure in Staten Island, but the 1973 collision ofSS Esso Brussels andSSSea Witch would prove to be the largest fires she would ever fight single-handedly. For her and her crew's part in the response, firefighting and rescue of 31 surviving crewmen from the burningSSSea Witch, theFire Fighter was named aGallant Ship[5] and her crew received the American Merchant Marine Seamanship Trophy. To date,Fire Fighter remains the only fireboat to have received this award.
A 1974 article inThe New York Times described how fires inNew Jersey frequently resulted in requests to the FDNY commissioner for the loan ofFire Fighter.[6] Once authorized it would takeFire Fighter approximately 45 minutes to arrive at waterfront communities such asCarteret.
The boat, asFirefighter, was declared a U.S.National Historic Landmark in 1989.[3][4]
OnSeptember 11, 2001,Fire Fighter, along with the rest of the FDNY Marine Units, responded to the terrorist attack on theWorld Trade Center and took up a station at the foot of Albany Street inBattery Park City and began pumping at her maximum capacity to supply water to landside units fighting fires in the still-standing towers. Following the collapse of both buildings and resultant failure of the majority of the water mains serving lower Manhattan,Fire Fighter and the rest of the FDNY Marine Units became the sole source of water for firefighting efforts atGround Zero, a duty whichFire Fighter maintained for a period of three weeks until sufficient repairs were completed on landside water mains to permit her release from what had become her longest emergency response call. Following a shipyard period in 2003 to rebuild her worn-out engines, theFire Fighter resumed her post and continued to respond to marine emergencies, including a gasoline barge explosion in Port Mobil, Staten Island, in February 2003, and to the ditching ofUS Airways Flight 1549 on theHudson River in 2009.
Replaced in frontline service by the fireboatFire Fighter II,[7] in 2010 at Marine Unit 9,Fire Fighter was placed into reserve status at the formerBrooklyn Navy Yard where she remained in FDNY custody until October 15, 2012. Transferred on that date to the ownership of the non-profit Fireboat Fire Fighter Museum,Fire Fighter is now operated by an all-volunteer group dedicated to preserving the historic fireboat in running condition as amuseum ship, befitting her over 70 years of service to the people and mariners ofNew York City andNew York Harbor.
Under the stewardship of the museum,Fire Fighter found a home inGreenport, New York, on Long Island's North Fork and relocated to the village from theBrooklyn Navy Yard in February 2013. Eventually shifting to the village's commercial pier in accordance with their contractual agreement with the village, the museum has continued to grow in popularity and was granted501(c)(3) status by theIRS in October 2013 as a tax-exempt non-profit organization. The museum was awarded a National Park Service Maritime Heritage Grant in 2014 to pursue hull upkeep and preventative maintenance shipyard work.[8]
Gathering matching funds for the National Park Service grant lasted through December 2016,[9] whenFire Fighter reported to Goodison Shipyard inKingston, Rhode Island, for four months of shipyard work, overhaul and hull inspection.[10] Completed in April 2017,Fire Fighter returned toGreenport, New York, in her as-built, late 1930 FDNY color scheme, with a black hull, white topsides and buff smokestack, and with all topside brass returned to its bare metal appearance.[11] As of the summer of 2021, the vessel is currently on exhibit at theMystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT.[12]
Marine Fire Company No. 9, which operates the largest fireboat in the world, the Firefighter, is usually the first unit on the scene of a Jersey waterfront blaze; it has its headquarters adjacent to the Staten Island‐Manhattan ferry slips in St. George.
The vessel's revitalization has been at a standstill because the museum needed to move the Fire Fighter to a shipyard to have the hull surveyed for possible repairs. Mr. Ritchie called this process the first phase and the "most crucial" part of the project.
But by the time you read this, Fire Fighter will soon be on its way back to its home berth with a fresh new coat of paint, after a winter spent undergoing a major overhaul at Goodison Shipyards in Rhode Island.
In the dead of the night overnight June 8, the FDNY Fireboat Fire Fighter returned to Greenport, after spending the winter getting an overhaul at Goodison Shipyards in Rhode Island.[permanent dead link]
