Fireboat No. 1 - Tacoma, Washington
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 47° 16.931 W 122° 28.638
10T E 539528 N 5236655
Fireboat One is one of only 5 fireboats listed in the US National Historic Register. It performed fire protection and search and rescue misions for over 50 years. It can be seen drydocked on the South end of Ruston Way on the Tacoma Waterfront.
Waymark Code: WM2NYR
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 11/28/2007
Views: 58
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.