Posts Tagged Hike Metal Products

Chicago Engine 2 (fire boat)

Karl Klotz pointed us to a site HERE that outlines the specifications and some other interesting information about building the vessel and the requirements that the builder had to meet. Some of the highlights include:

As is immediately obvious from the photographs and accompanying General Arrangement drawing, this is a vessel for which the design was extremely customized to suit the operating environment. The fireboat was designed and built to operate year-round in Lake Michigan, the Chicago River, and surrounding harbours, which includes up to 30 cm (1′) of first year ice. The combination of a very shallow operating draft and an equally limiting air draft presented a significant design challenge, especially regarding weight estimation: if too heavy the vessel would near the bottom of the shallow river; if too light it would run afoul of the numerous low height bridges that grace the Chicago River through downtown Chicago. The new fireboat will be used to respond to any firefighting, rescue, hazmat decontamination, dive support operations, and other waterway related responses.

The fire-fighting capability is provided by two completely independent pump engines, also CAT model C32 diesels, each rated 745 kW at 1,800 rpm and driving an FFS model SFP250 x 350 fire pump, rated 1,590 m³ (7,000 US gallons) per hour at 10 bar (150 psi). There are four fire-fighting monitors:

Centre Forward – 22,710 Lpm (6,000 gpm)
P&S Forward – 11,355 Lpm (3,000 gpm)
Aft – 11,355 Lpm (3,000 gpm)

The aft monitor is located atop a hydraulically elevating mast, provided by Hunger Hydraulics C.C. Ltd. This raises the monitor to a height of 9.14 metres (30′) above the water. In addition to the main monitors, there is an array of hose manifold connections on each side and at the forward end of the fireboat. There are nine connections on each side and four connections at the forward end of the vessel.

As a side note, the photographs featured were taken by Karl Klotz.

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Chicago Engine 2 ‘Christopher Wheatley’ – update

Chicago Fire Department dedication ceremony fire boat Engine 2 Christopher Wheatley

More images are available now of the dedication ceremony yesterday and Engine 2. Karl Klotz sent in several images depicting the boat and the ceremony. Larry Shapiro has a gallery of images HERE of the boat and has not yet posted the dedication. Gordon J. Nord Jr., has a couple of images HERE showing the boat but he has not yet posted the complete set nor the ceremony.

Chicago Fire Department dedication ceremony fire boat Engine 2 Christopher Wheatley

Chicago Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff addresses the media and visitors at the dedication ceremony for Engine 2, the Christopher Wheatley. Karl Klotz photo

Chicago Fire Department dedication ceremony fire boat Engine 2 Christopher Wheatley

Christopher Wheatley's mother christens the boat. Karl Klotz photo

Chicago Fire Department fire boat Engine 2 Christopher Wheatley

Engine 2 heads out from the ceremony near the Chicago Firefighter Memorial. Karl Klotz photo

Chicago Fire Department fire boat Engine 2 Christopher Wheatley

The pilot engages the pumps to discharge water from the turrets. Karl Klotz photo

Chicago Fire Department fire boat Engine 2 Christopher Wheatley

Engine 2 flowing water from the four permanent turrets. Karl Klotz photo

Chicago Fire Department fire boat Engine 2 Christopher Wheatley

The rear of Engine 2 displays the boat's name and the CFD logo. Larry Shapiro photo

Chicago Fire Department fire boat 688

Chicago's fast boat 6-8-8 shadowed Engine 2 as it took to the lake full of visitors. Karl Klotz photo

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Chicago fire boat – The Christopher Wheatley

Dan Jasina from Michigan found another article on the new fire boat with photos and a video.  The entire article can be found HERE with excerpts below:

The vessel represents more than a year of work for Hike Metal Products Ltd. and its more than 20 workers. It’s the largest boat the Wheatley ship builder has sent out of the harbour in four or five years and is larger than a fire boat built in 2007 for Baltimore.

On Friday morning the Chicago fire boat will leave the harbour and could be passing down the Detroit River that afternoon. It will head through Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan before reaching Chicago Sunday night, if the weather co-operates.

The boat carries the Wheatley name in a touching coincidence that surprised fire officials in Chicago and the ship builders here.

The fire boat is called the Christopher Wheatley for a 31-year-old Chicago firefighter who died Aug. 9 in the line of duty. He was carrying equipment up a fire escape during a restaurant fire when he fell to his death.

His father Daniel Wheatley said after the Chicago Fire Department told him the city’s replacement fire boat would be commissioned in his son’s name, he asked about who was building the boat. When he looked up Hike Metal’s website and saw the location he was stunned. He travelled to Wheatley in March to see the boat and the village.

Not many firefighters in Chicago know what name the fire boat will bear when it arrives. Hike Metal officials found out about the coincidence four months ago when they asked what name to put on the boat.

Company president Andy Stanton said Wheatley’s not a common name and he’s pleased a hero will carry the Wheatley name out of the harbour. “We were very surprised.”

The Christopher Wheatley is a heavy duty fire boat designed to break up to 12 inches of ice so it can operate year-round.

It can be used with scuba divers, for rescues, for firefighting with foam or water and as a pumping station to supplement the city’s firemain supply of water. It can be run with a crew of five or up to 10 when fighting a fire. It has a kitchen, washroom and crew accommodations below decks.

One of the four monitor nozzles sits on a platform that can be elevated 30 feet and the force of the spray will be enough to blast brick off the side of a building, Stanton said.

To be able to pass underneath low bridges, the boat was built so the mast comes down and it sits no more than 16 feet out of the water. It has four engines, two for the water pumps and two 1,500 horsepower propulsion engines to drive the boat. It can travel at 12 knots or at three knots through ice.

 

Dan submitted photos that we posted HERE.

Chicago Fire Departement new fire boat

Chicago's new fire boat sits completed and ready to head out in a week. Dan Jasina photo

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Chicago Fire Boat update

Dan Jasina and a group of Detroit buffs were at Hike Metal Products in Wheatley, Ontario today and took a bunch of photos of Chicago’s new fire boat. The boat is scheduled to leave Wheatley this Friday, April 15, for its maiden voyage to Chicago. Dan submitted several images of the boat.

 

Chicago Fire Departement new fire boat

Chicago's new fire boat sits completed and ready to head out in a week. Dan Jasina photo

Chicago Fire Department new fire boat

A profile of the boat shows it's full length. Dan Jasina photo

Chicago Fire Department new fire boat

The rear of the boat shows a turret gun perched on a platform above the deck. Dan Jasina photo

Chicago Fire Department new fire boat

Inside the deckhouse is the command center. Dan Jasina photo

 

Chicago Fire Department new fire boat

Three water cannons are mounted at the bow of the boar. Dan Jasina photo

Chicago Fire Department new fire boat

A closeup of the rear mounted water cannon which is capable of putting out 3,000 gallons per minute from a platform that can rise 30 feet in the air. Dan Jasina photo

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