Chicago FD - New Fire Boat (With Video)

[Dean Wilkinson 18]

Yesterday, I had the opportunity along with other members of Detroit Box 42, to tour the new Chicago Fire Boat, under construction at Hike Metal, in Wheatley, Ontario (Wheatley is approximately 40 miles south of Detroit on the north shore of Lake Erie) As you will see in the pictures, Hike employees were busy getting ready for delivery of the boat, as it leaves Wheatly for Chicago this coming Friday, April 15th.

Here is a brief description of the vessel:

90 feet long

7 1/2 feet of draw

Steel hull, aluminum superstructure, boat is designed for ice breaking duties

Powered by 2 1400 horsepower Cat Marine Diesels, top speed 13 1/2 knots (consumes 100 gallons of diesel per hour at top speed)

Two 7,000 gallon pumps each powered by a 1,000 horse Cat Marine Diesels

Two 30 Kw diesel powered generators

2500 gallon diesel tank

Two 500 gallon foam tanks

4 monitors, 3 on the bow, 1 on the stern, stern monitor elevates to a height of 30 feet

Mast can be stowed hydraulically to allow passage under the bridges on the Chicago River system

Edited April 15, 2011 by xfirefighter484x
Merged 2 Separate Topics By Same OP

[osufire90 18]

Nice ship! It looks like they put a lot of thought into it!

[JetPhoto 626]

Very nice, good luck to them.

Thanks for the sharing the pictures.

[Dean Wilkinson 18]

Video of the new Chicago FD Fire Boat as it passed thru Windsor/Detroit today enroute to Chicago.

My link

Edited April 15, 2011 by xfirefighter484x
Merged With Pre-Existing Thread

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Beautiful!!!!!

Best of luck with the new boat!!!!

[M' Ave 1,466]

Nice compact vessel. You can see the function for sure. Clearly draft and clearance was a staple issue!

[JBE 328]

I dunno if it's been asked, but does this new boat have a name aside from the new Engine 58??Scratch that, just got a closer look. The Christopher Wheatley.

Edited April 16, 2011 by JBE

[PFDRes47cue 653]

Amazing looking boat. Looks like a lot of good well-thoughtout planning went into it. There does not appear to be too many lights on it which is rare now-a-days.

Best of luck with it CFP.