City of Los Angeles Fire Boat No. 2 Visits Avalon

2009-03-09
City of Avalon

The most powerful fire boat in the world, Los Angeles City Fire Department's Boat No. 2, visited Avalon for the day for a special salt water implementation training session with City of Avalon and Los Angeles County firefighters stationed here on Catalina Island. A local resident races past the fire boat on his personal watercraft as the vessel lies moored just off of Descanso Beach.

Los Angeles Fire Boat No. 2, the new Los Angeles Fire Department boat built by the Nichols Bros. Boat Builders at Whidbey Island, Washington, is capable of pouring 38,000 gallons of water a minute on a fire from enormous monitors that dwarf the largest aboard the Chief Seattle, which has a maximum capacity of 7,500 gallons a minute. The boat also boasts a propulsion system similar to those used by tugboats, giving it precise maneuvering abilities.

"We can literally turn on a dime," said L.A. Fire Department Capt. Doug Moore, who spent nine years working on the design of the vessel. Moore began by identifying the hazards in the Port of Los Angeles, then came up with the tools needed to overcome those hazards before designing a vessel that could carry those tools.

The 105-foot boat carries diving equipment, a rescue boat, 6,000 gallons of foam for fuel fires, and has a retractable platform and an extension ladder and crane. There are bunks for patients and even an area to treat hypothermia victims.