Christopher Wheatley Fireboat Chicago Fire Department

The ''Christopher Wheatley'' 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 ...

delivered to the

Chicago Fire Department The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) provides firefighting services along with emergency medical response services, hazardous materials mitigation services, and technical rescue response services in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, un ...

in 2011. When she was delivered in April 2011, she was the first new fireboat to serve the city in sixty years. She replaced the '' Victor L. Schlaeger''. The vessel was built in

Wheatley, Ontario Wheatley is a community in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, within the municipality of Chatham-Kent. It lies about east of Leamington. Nearby parks include Two Creeks Conservation Area, which has 15 km of hiking and bicycling paths, Kopegaro ...

, and was named after a young Chicago firefighter who had died in the line of duty in August 2010. The vessel was designed specifically to function in an environment like

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where she would be required to navigate shallow rivers, and pass under low bridges. She has four diesel engines, two of which are dedicated to powering her four

water cannon A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining. ...

s. A water cannon on her aft deck is on an extensible mast that can be raised to a height of 30 feet, if required, but can be lowered to pass under low bridges. Her radio mast can also be lowered, for passing under low bridges. Her water cannons can project 15,000 gallons per minute. The Fire Department maintains crew on the vessel 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The vessel was designed by Canadian Naval Architects Robert Allan Ltd. and built in the Canadian shipyards of Hike Metal Products. Chicago keeps the lower reaches of the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). The river is one of the reasons for Chicago's geographic importance: the related Chic ...

clear of ice, during the winter, so service vessels, like the ''Christopher Wheatley'' can transit it, during emergencies. While she is capable of breaking ice usually the city-owned tugboat '' James J. Versluis'' performs this duty. In 2021, the ''Christopher Wheatley'' was put into use breaking ice on the Chicago River, while the ''James J. Versluis'' was in charge of breaking ice on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

References

{{commons category, Christopher Wheatley (ship, 2011) Fireboats of Chicago

See also

References