New York City's Marvelous Fire Fighter

Every major harbor has one or more fireboats to protect the docks and ships where ground-based fire vehicles cannot go.       Originally (late 1800's) these boats were made from old, converted tugboats. Within a few decades they had proved their worth and specially-designed fireboats began to be built.

Certainly the most famous fireboat of all time is the FIRE FIGHTER of New York City, which began service in 1938 and still answers the call.

FIRE FIGHTER was designed by William Francis Gibbs, who also designed the ocean liners AMERICA and UNITED STATES.

Four 5000 GPM De Laval two-stage centrifugal pumps provide a total pumping capacity of 20,000 gallons per minute at 150 PSI. They can also be connected in series to provide 10,000 GPM at 300 PSI.

W. F. Gibbs also designed a land-based fire truck -- the most powerful ever built -- called the Super Pumper, which served NYC from 1965 to 1982. It was built by Mack Trucks, and could feed 35 hose lines at once.

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