The ''Alki'' is a

fireboat A fireboat or Fire-float Pyronaut, fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with ...

noted for its long service in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The boat was built in 1927 and is long. She was Seattle's third fireboat. She was built with

gasoline engines Gasoline (North American English) or petrol (Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formulate ...

, which were replaced with diesels in 1947. The new engine retrofit allowed the Alki to increase its pumping capacity from 12,000 gallons per minute to 16,200 gallons per minute. She replaced the ''Snoqualmie'', Seattle's first fireboat. Seattle sits on both

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

and a series of freshwater lakes, including

Lake Union Lake Union () is a freshwater lake located entirely within the city limits of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a major part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which carries fresh water from the much larger Lake Washington on the east t ...

and

Lake Washington Lake Washington () is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest lake in King County, Washington, King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington (state), Was ...

. In 2002, after a large fire, where thirty vessels were destroyed, firefighting authorities decided to permanently station a fireboat on the lakes, because it takes an hour for a fireboat to traverse the locks between the lakes and the Ocean. Alki was the vessel chosen. The boat has been taken out of service and was auctioned online beginning March 4, 2013. It was stipulated by the City ahead of time that the high bidder must meet certain requirements, including appropriate insurance and moorage. The vessel was sold for $71,000 on March 14, 2013, to an anonymous buyer, who subsequently backed out, when he or she found that new insurance for the vessel could not be obtained without a third party survey of fitness. The city looked into selling the vessel to lower bidders, but none of them seemed to have the financial backing to maintain the vessel. In June Seattle paid for a survey, and some minor repairs, and announced plans to offer the vessel for sale again, this time at a live auction. In August 2014 Craig Mullen, the fourth owner in the year since Seattle sold the vessel, admitted falling behind in the mortgage payments for the Alki, and said he feared he might have to break up the historic vessel, and sell off its parts. Mullen bought the ''Alki'' at auction from the Port of Skagit in May 2014. Mullen's asking price was $50,000—exactly twice what the vessel had sold for, at Seattle's live auction, a year earlier. The Alki is in the process of being scrapped as of April 13, 2020 in Tacoma WA.

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External links

* {{Seattle Fire Department, state=autocollapse Water transport in Seattle Fireboats in Seattle, Washington 1927 ships