Rados International Designing Cummins-Powered Fireboat For City Of Los Angeles

Rados International Corporation, naval architects and marine engineers of San Pedro, Calif., has been awarded a design contract by the City of Los Angeles for a new state-of-the-art fireboat.

The new vessel, designated as boat #6, is being planned to prepare for the harbor's continued growth and expansion, both in supertanker and container operations as well as pierside construction.

The new fireboat, of welded steel construction, will be 100 feet in length, 23 feet in breadth, have a draft of 7 feet, and a speed of approximately 13 knots. The completed design will incorporate a total pumping capacity of 15,000 gpm through seven monitors, and contain a fully automated engine room with new sophisticated electronic and hydraulic system designs.

It will be equipped for patrol, search, and rescue missions and have a 7-10 minute response time to cover the vast area of the Los Angeles inner and outer harbors.

Designed to accommodate a maximum of five and a minimum of three firefighting personnel, the vessel will be propelled by twin Cummins KT-38 diesel engines, each rated to deliver 800 bhp at 1,800 rpm, driving fixed-pitch propellers through reverse reduction gears with a ratio of 3 to 1. The exhaust system will have a dry stack configuration.

The firefighting system will be composed of three main pumps with dedicated Cummins KT-38 engines producing 5,000 gpm each. Deck monitors provided by Stang Mfg Inc., one on the bow and four on the stern, with 3,000-gpm capacity, will be remotely controlled from the pilothouse, as will the pilothouse turret rated at 10,000 gpm with a 400-foot stream. Tow thruhull underwharf nozzles with 2,000 gpm each will all be operated from the pilothouse. Twin reduced capacity deck-mounted turrets, mounted in the bow port and starboard, for pilothouse protection, will contain 500-gpm spray capacities. An elevated tower monitor will also provide a 350-foot stream from 3,000 gpm.

A telescoping aerial platform will be incorporated for water rescues.

Foam firefighting capabilities will comprise 2,000 gallons of ATC foam which may be distributed proportionately from 3 percent to 6 percent.

Rados, in addition, will provide contract administration and construction inspection services for the port.

In addition to providing technical design and engineering services to the City of Los Angeles, Rados has also been contracted to provide services to the Port of Long Beach incidental to the upgrading, system redesign and crew training for two new 88-foot fireboats constructed at Moss Point in Mississippi.

For free literature on the full range of design services offered by Rados International, Circle 296 on Reader Service Card

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 72,  Apr 1989

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Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.