The Fire-class fireboats/yard tractor tugs were two
fireboat
A fireboat or 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 firefighting equipm ...
s operated by the
Royal Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack subma ...
. The two vessels are and .
Design and construction
''Firebird'' was based at
CFB Halifax
Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Halifax is Canada's east coast naval base and home port to the Royal Canadian Navy Atlantic fleet, known as Canadian Fleet Atlantic (CANFLTLANT), that forms part of the formation Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT).
It ...
, and ''Firebrand'' at
CFB Esquimalt
Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt (CFB Esquimalt) is Canada's Pacific Coast naval base and home port to Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Task Force Pacific Headquarters. , 4,411 military personnel and 2,762 civilians work at CFB Esquima ...
.
[ According to the '']Canadian American Strategic Review The Canadian American Strategic Review was an influential Canadian think-tank that comments on Canadian Defence and sovereignty issues.
The think-tank operated, for many years, from the campus of Simon Fraser University.
History
In 2007 the ''Can ...
'' the class was designed by naval architects Robert Allan Limited, and were built at Vancouver Shipyards in North Vancouver
North Vancouver may refer to:
*North Vancouver (city), a city in British Columbia, Canada
* North Vancouver (district municipality), a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada
* North Vancouver (electoral district), a federal electoral di ...
in 1978, and later acquired by the Canadian Forces
}
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Ai ...
.
The two ships displaced and were long, with a beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
* Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
** Laser beam
* Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized g ...
of and a draught of . The ships were powered by two azimuthing Z-drive
A Z-drive is a type of marine propulsion unit. Specifically, it is an azimuth thruster. The pod can rotate 360 degrees allowing for rapid changes in thrust direction and thus vessel direction. This eliminates the need for a conventional rudder.
...
s and one hydraulic tunnel bow thruster
Manoeuvering thruster (bow thruster or stern thruster) is a transversal propulsion device built into, or mounted to, either the bow or stern, of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow thrusters make docking easier, since they allow th ...
. This gave the vessels a maximum speed of . The ships had a crew of five firefighters.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, two diesel-driven fire pumps capable of expending 2,500 gpm at 150 psi
Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to:
Alphabetic letters
* Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet
* Psi (Cyrillic) (Ѱ, ѱ), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek
Arts and entertainment
* "Psi" as an abbreviation ...
each.
Ships in class
Service history
In 2008, ''Firebird'' helped extinguish a fire aboard the former Canadian Coast Guard
The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in ...
vessel in Halifax harbour.[
On 4 December 2012 the Department of National Defence published a Letter of Interest (LOI)/Request for Information (RFI) for Canadian shipbuilders interested in building replacements for the Glen-class tugs¸ and Fire-class fireboats.]bollard pull
Bollard pull is a conventional measure of the pulling (or towing) power of a watercraft. It is defined as the force (in tonnes force, or kilonewtons (kN)) exerted by a vessel under full power, on a shore-mounted bollard through a tow-line, commo ...
of 40 tons—almost six times as much as the 7.5 tons the Fire-class vessels are capable of.
On 29 January 2014, the availability of ''Firebird'' to fight fires was reduced due to budget cuts, being on standby only during weekdays during normal working hours.[
]
Replacement
On 29 April 2019 the Government of Canada announced Ocean Industries
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the worl ...
of Isle-aux-Coudres
L'Isle-aux-Coudres is a municipality in Quebec, Canada, in the Charlevoix Regional County Municipality in the Charlevoix area of the Capitale-Nationale region. It is located on and contiguous with Coudres Island (''Île aux Coudres''), located in ...
, Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
was awarded the contract to build four tow-tug/rescue vessels to replace both the Fire-class fireboat/tractor tugs and Glen-class yard tugs with delivery expected from 2021 to 2023.
References
Ships of Canada
Tugboats of the Royal Canadian Navy
Auxiliary fireboat classes
{{Canada-mil-stub