LAFIRE.COM

The Los Angeles Fire Department
Historical Archive
Fire Boats of the L.A.F.D.


1983

Fire Boat 2, Fire Boat 4 and Fire Boats 5, 3 and 1 ( the little boats).
Photo taken  in 1983 in front of Fire Station 112.  This building has since been closed and
demolished  and the new Fire Station 112 is located at 444 S. Harbor Blvd., Berth #86, San Pedro.

Assigned to protect the world's largest man-made harbor, the Department's fleet of five fireboats are indispensable in controlling ship and wharf fires.  Coordinating their efforts with engine companies, fire attack can be simultaneously made from the land and water sides.  Qualified Firefighters are assigned to the fireboats as Pilots, Mates, and Scuba Divers, where the art of underwater fire-fighting was conceived and refined.  Fireboats 2 and 4, with rated pumping capacities of 17,000 GPM and 10,000 GPM, respectively, provide heavy stream concentrations and can be utilized to provide a water supply to engine companies engaged in fire-fighting operations adjacent to the waterfront.  Fireboats 1, 3, and 5 are 34-foot crafts, rated at 750 GPM and , due to their size and maneuverability, are ideal for fire-fighting and rescue operations in the marinas.

 

MAJOR INCIDENTS IN THE
PORT OF LOS ANGELES

c

Our Brothers at
 Marine Company 1
 FDNY

 

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H I S T O R Y  O F  T H E  L O S  A N G E L E S F I R E  D E P A R T M E N T' S
F I R E  B O A T S
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Fire Tugs
 Warrior and the Falcon
 1909 - 1917               1909 - 1915

Los Angeles leased these steam and sail equipped tugs, the Warrior and the Falcon, shortly after the city annexed San Pedro and Wilmington August 28, 1909, and the fire department assumed waterfront protection responsibilities


 


Aeolian
 1916 - ?

Los Angeles' first fireboat, Aeolian, probably was one-of-a-kind because its sole firefighting capability was a 60 gallon bicarbonate of soda and sulphuric acid chemical supply which, when mixed and discharged through the reeled hose, formed an extinguishing agent.   The boat also carried a short ladder for boarding lumber schooners and other vessels.   Purchased in 1915 and believed to have been built in Seattle, the 20-foot-long craft went in service in 1916.



 




The Steam Ferry
 1917 - 1919

Starting in 1917 Los Angeles used these Amoskeag and Nott steam fire engines.  Horse-drawn from their station and loaded on the barge, they were towed to fires. 

 
 

Fire Boat No. 1
 Archibald J. Eley
1919 - 1969

Fire Boat No. 1 was commissioned in 1919.  It was purchased for $33,000 and is all wood construction,  65' long, 17.7' beam, 39.65 gross tons with a total pumping capacity of 2000 gpm.

 


 


Fire Boat No. 2
 Ralph J. Scott
1925 - 2003

LISTED ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES, REF. NO. 89001430, 
DESIGNATED A NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK, 6/30/89.

Los Angeles City No. 2, a state of the art fireboat with many innovations, was built in at the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp. (Todd Shipyard), San Pedro and launched October 20, 1925.  The $214,000 fire boat, later renamed Fireboat 2, the Ralph J. Scott, originally was gasoline-powered and rated at 10,200 gpm.

 


 

L.A. C I T Y  No. 3
 1928 - 1967

Commissioned March 22, 1928.  All wood construction.  Length 38' 4", beam 10' 2", powered by 275 H.P. Hall Scott Invader and has a pump capacity of 800 gpm..

 



L.A. C I T Y No. 4
 Bethel F. Gifford
 1962

Built in 1962 for $639,000 at the Albina Engine and Machinery Works in Portland, Oregon.  Length 76 1/2 feet, beam 24 feet, draft 7 feet and pump capacity of 9000 gpm.


 


Los Angeles Fireboat 2
Warner L. Lawrence
In Service
April 12, 2003

ROBERT ALLAN LTD.
NAVAL ARCHITECTS AND MARINE ENGINEERS
230-1639 WEST 2nd. AVE.  VANCOUVER, B.C.


 

Fire Boats No. 1, 3 and 5
In Service

 


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