Port Huron (2016/01/30)

[Mr Link]

the basics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyJHX6MZOWg

[mn brett]

Thank You Mr Link!,Those Cycloidal Drives are amazing! I would like to see how they work! I suppose all directions ??mn brett

[Mr Link]

I'd suspect that a lot of the need for water stems from the types of fires they were designed to fight. Large wooden wharves, warehouses, ships, stacks of cargo, timber ore docks, etc. Big fires, with limited land access.

The book Fireboats, by Paul Ditzel 1989, also mentions that some cities like Detroit, Rochester and Buffalo once had high pressure firefighting mains installed downtown, that were pressurized by either fireboats or shore based pumps. In the case of Detroit, circa 1900 there were 13 mains, each 8 inches in diameter and about a mile long, that served special hydrants spaced no more than 300 feet apart. At each hydrant was a telephone jack so firefighters could talk to the fireboat, which at that time was the Detroiter, with a pumping capacity of 5000 gallons per minute.

Even without pressurized mains, fireboats would and still do supply water to land based crews via hoses. I believe that was the case in New York after the 9/11 attacks when three fireboats, including the retired and restored John J. Harvey, supplied water to Manhattan for 80 hours straight.

Not quite sure what Los Angeles does with the 38,000 gallons per minute capacity of their current Warner L. Lawrence aka Fireboat #2.

http://nonplused.org/panos/fb2/index.html

[mn brett]

I am on a fire department in central Minnesota( Isanti fire district). Our fire engines are only rated at 1500 Gallons per Minute, witch is all We need,We have one Arial We picked up out of California,We picked it up for 60,000,a new one would have been well over a Million. What is always said is when the Arial goes up the Building comes down! What are these Fire Boats with there Massive pumps used for? What us interior attack Fireman know is if You can't get to the fire to hit the fire directly!,than You have to do a surround and drowned!,so with a fire boat all You could do is spray massive amounts of water at the object in hopes of flooding the fire!,witch does not seem to effective! any thoughts? thank You mn brett

[George Lee]

The fireboat is the Howard W. Fitzpatrick which served in Boston until replaced by a new, modern vessel. It was purchased by Willy's Contracting in Southampton several years ago. Powered by four Detroit Diesel 12V-71, two for propulsion and two for the pumps which each move 6000 gallons per minute. Not sure why its at Purdy's. Willy also owns the tug Pride in the east end of Sarnia harbour.

[Erie Fishtug]

The red hulled boat is the Howard W Fitzpatrick an exBoston area fire boat - Apparently she is based in Southampton - I caught her today at Purdy's dock - Anybody know why she is there - Looks to be in fine shape-
Monty

[Guest 1]

The white fish tug behind it is the Josh II, mot owned by Purdy's but John Liddle from Wheatley Ont.

[Bookworm]

In the picture of the Purdy fleet I see the red hulled boat, I beleive she is an old fire tug and was bought by Willy's in Southampton but am wondering what she's doing in Sarnia. She's not a tug so wouldn't be used for ship assist. Any ideas? Thanks

Good question, Huronview. Maybe someone else knows the answer.

[Huronview]

In the picture of the Purdy fleet I see the red hulled boat, I beleive she is an old fire tug and was bought by Willy's in Southampton but am wondering what she's doing in Sarnia. She's not a tug so wouldn't be used for ship assist. Any ideas? Thanks

[Bookworm]

No activity on the St. Clair River, but these were the scenes at Port Huron late yesterday afternoon.