MetalCraft Marine

Here's a nice article in Kingston This Week about the John S. Damrell, the FireStorm 70 soon to be delivered to the City of Boston Fire Department.

Special thanks to Rob Mooy, Photo Editor at Kingston This Week, for the photos.

Kingston builds 'biggest and baddest' fireboat

"A monster," "far superior," "the biggest and the baddest."

Meet MetalCraft Marine's latest fireboat, the FireStorm 70.

The company based in the Kingston Marina, completed work on the FireStorm 70 three weeks ago, and will be sailing the 70-footer down to its purchasers in Boston later this month.

On August 11, the Kingston crew took guests out for a test run near Kingston Marina, and the boat did not disappoint.

"Boston has a number of fireboats but nothing with this capability. This can pump about 12,000 gallons per minute," says Jay Milner, account manager for MetalCraft Marine. "The other fireboats Boston has are a lot slower. And the faster ones they have are very tiny, in comparison to this monster. It was a quick sell."

The City of Boston is purchasing the fireboat, equipped with chemical, biological and radiological emergency response capability, for the Boston Fire Department.

It replaces their current fireboat "Firefighter," which has been in service since 1972 and does not have the capabilities needed for a modern emergency response fireboat.

In a recent press release, Commissioner Roderick Fraser of the City of Boston said the FireStorm 70 will also have state of the art navigation systems as well as water jet propulsion, and is designed to operate in a chemical or biological contaminated environment.

"This boat is light years ahead of the current fireboat and will greatly enhance our response capability anywhere in Boston Harbor," he said.

"It's far superior to a fire truck because it's got a water supply that will never end, and manoeuverability," says Tom Wroe, President of MetalCraft Marine.

The boat will be named John S. Damrell after the former Chief Engineer of the Boston Fire Department who battled Boston's Great Fire of 1872.

It is the third 70-footer made by MetalCraft Marine. The first was sold to Tampa, FL, and the second to Jacksonville, FL.

According to Milner, Kingston has been looking at buying a fireboat from MetalCraft Marine, but it is unlikely to be anything near of the size of the FireStorm 70, most likely it will in the 40-46 ft. range.

"Kingston needs one of these," says Milner. "This boat can do 37 knots full tilt, it's just amazing."

MetalCraft Marine has already begun work on their next project, a fireboat for Wilmington, Delaware.