Fireboats of Long Beach, California

| Main Article
| Discussion
| Related Articles  [?]
| Bibliography  [?]
| External Links  [?]
| Citable Version  [?]

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

[edit intro]

The Long Beach Fire Department of the city of Long Beach, California owns and operates Fireboats in Long Beach, providing fire protection and rescue services for the Port of Long Beach and the marina and beach areas of the city of Long Beach[1] Although administered separately, the port facilities of Los Angeles and Long Beach are adjacent, and together, form one of the largest container ports in the world.[2] The cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach have a mutual aid arrangement where one will loan fireboats to the other in case of need.

image | name | launched | notes

|
|
|

| Charles S. Windham | 1942 |

* The city's first fireboat.[3]

| Fireboat 1 | 1954 |

* Fireboat 1, Long Beach's second fireboat.[4]

| Fireboat 2 | 1954 |

* Fireboat 2, Long Beach's third fireboat.[4]

| Challenger | 1987 |

* The Los Angeles Times reported that the Challenger and Liberty began to show maintenance problems due to poor contrstruction within two years of their delivery.[2]
* Capable of pumping 10,000 Gallons per minute.[2]

| Liberty | 1987 |

* The Liberty had the same corrosion problems as her sister ship, the Challenger, and by September 1988 the Long Beach Harbour Commission had to allocate an addition $883,000 to repair the vessels.[5]

| Protector | 2014 |

* Commissioned on June 8, 2016.[6]
* Designed to mount water cannons capable of fighting fires on the largest modern container ships.[1][7]

| Vigilance | 2015 |

* Commissioned on November 13, 2017.[8]
* Design identical to Protector.

Workboat magazine reported, on June 14, 2017, that Long Beach planned to spend $100 million USD to construct two new firestations for its two new fireboats.[9]

## See also[edit]

* Los Angeles Fire Department

## References[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Powerful fireboat christened at Foss Maritime, Marine Log, 2014-04-15. “Fireboat 20 and its sister are replacements for two older fireboats, the Liberty and Challenger.”
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chris Woodyard. 2 Long Beach Fireboats Gathering Rust, Los Angeles Times, 1988-04-27. Retrieved on 2014-05-16. “After spending $4.4 million for two state-of-the-art fireboats, the Port of Long Beach is struggling to keep the vessels from becoming floating rust buckets.”
3. ↑ Glen Goodrich (2005). Long Beach Fire Department: Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738530017. Retrieved on 2014-05-17. “In 1942, the City of Long Beach commissioned the building of its first fireboat, the Charles S. Windham. The Windham was built by Wilmington Boats Works and financed by the Harbor Department.”
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Erin Kurinsky. INVENTORY OF THE LONG BEACH FIREMAN'S HISTORICAL MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPHS COLLECTION, 1840-1971, bulk 1906-1971, University of California, p. 8,9.
5. ↑ Chris Woodyard. Long Beach to Spend $883,000 to Save 2 Fireboats, Los Angeles Times, 1988-09-29. Retrieved on 2014-05-16. “The commission is paying $653,000, the largest chunk of the funds, to a Terminal Island boatyard to correct design and construction deficiencies and to fix corrosion damage on the twin $2.2-million Challenger and Liberty, which were delivered to the city within the past two years.”
6. ↑ Emily Thornton. Long Beach Fire Department Debuts New Boat, Long Beach Gazette, 2016-06-05. Retrieved on 2016-06-06. “The vessel, called “Protector,” has its dedication from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8, at the Port of Long Beach Joint Command and Control Center. The ceremony isn’t public, port media relations lead Lee Peterson said.”
7. ↑ Port Welcomes Protector, The World's Most Advanced Fireboat, Everything Long Beach, 2016-06-09. Retrieved on 2016-10-15. “Protector and a second, still-under-construction boat, “Vigilance,” will replace the Port’s fireboats “Challenger” and “Liberty,” which began service in the late 1980s and were designed in an era of vessels carrying 4,500 containers. The biggest vessels calling in Long Beach now have a capacity of 18,000 containers, with even larger ships coming in the future.”
8. ↑ Kirk Moore. Port of Long Beach commissions second Foss-built fireboatBy Kirk Moore on NOVEMBER 13, Work boat, 2017-11-13. Retrieved on 2019-10-03. “The Vigilance joined sistership Protector, replacing the late 1980s fireboats Challenger and Liberty, designed when the port was typically serviced 4,500-TEU capacity containerships. Now Long Beach regularly sees 14,000-TEU ships and expects larger vessels, like the 18,000- to 22,000-TEU ships planned by carrier CMA CGM.”
9. ↑ Kirk Moore. Port of Long Beach to build two new fireboat stations, Workboat magazine, 2017-06-14. Retrieved on 2017-06-15. “The Port of Long Beach, Calif., will build a pair of new fireboat stations for more than $100 million to base its 108’x35’ fireboats built by Foss Maritime Co., port officials said.”