The Travels of Tug 44 |
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Fireboat Marine 5 - Perth Amboy |
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Fireboat Marine 5 is on display for the public, at her dedication ceremony in December 2005, with big-sister NYC Fireboat Fire Fighter saluting her with water cannons. She is owned by Middlesex County NJ, and operated by the Perth Amboy Fire Department.
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Marine 5 shows her stuff. She is a 39 footer built by Metalcraft Marine of Kingston Ontario and has a pumping capacity of 2,400 gallons per minute. See a video of a similar fireboat running her pumps. See full-sized photo |
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This fireboat has a top speed of 38 knots with fuel capacity to run for 8 hours at her cruising speed of 33 knots, and has the acceleration to go from 0 to full speed in about 45 seconds. Her twin water-jet drives (no propellers) make her astonishingly maneuverable, see a video of a sister ship demonstrating her turning ability. Her water-jet drives can be thrown into reverse by simply turning the output nozzles forward, at full throttle, allowing her to "crash stop" from full speed in about 1 or 2 boat lengths.
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The helm has all the instruments we ever heard of. Notice the 4 SCBA units (self contained breathing apparatus) in the front room. They allow the crew to breathe clean air in smoke-filled areas. See full-sized photo |
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This view of the fireboat's engineroom shows the twin Cummins 6CTA8.3M turbo diesels. Each of the 8.3 liter engines produces 490 horsepower (980 HP total). The red unit on the left is the main pump that feeds the water cannons. The yellow gear on the right is a "stokes basket", used to haul injured people aboard, suspended from a cable.
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Bill is also the Raritan Riverkeeper, a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance |
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Lighthouses - Canal Corp Boats - Tugboats & Trawlers