SAN FRANCISCO—On Sunday, July 24, the San Francisco Fire Department received a new fire boat. It is now the third boat in the fleet. According to reports, the boat is the department’s newest tool in 61 years to helpd protect the city. Jonathan Baxter from the SFFD indicated the new boat was transported from Seattle, Washington to the Bay Area.
CBS San Francisco spoke to tourist Teresa Mendez who indicated that “It looked new and it was shiny.” Baxter indicated that the boat will be introduced to the public in a few weeks before Fleet Week in October. The fire boat will have updated equipment and crew members will receive training.
According to CBS San Francisco, the boat is 85-feet long and decked in red and white. The two-story vessel is equipped with water cannons. The new fire boat will join the fire department’s two other boats which are Phoenix, and Guardian on the waters.
According to NBC, the boat is known for now as “Fireboat #3. The boat will be named from a contest that is was held from April 18 to May 18. Local schoolchildren were able to submit a name and the winning entry will be announced before the boat’s christening in October. The youngsters were able to submit a name into a general contest and the winning entry will be unveiled sometime before the boat’s christening in October, Baxter said.
Fleet Week SF wrote on Twitter stating “@Omarmasry @sffdpio there’s a naming competition inside SF Schools as part of #SFFD150. For now it’s known as Fireboat 3.”
The SF Examiner reported that the new boat will help with rescuing distressed swimmers and pumping millions of gallons of water into SF’s reserve systems. The exact date of the christening has not been set, but it could be sometime in October.
