The latest version of MetalCraft Marine Incorporated’s Firestorm 70 was welcomed to the Fire Department of New York with a traditional fireboat display in the city harbor, marking the arrival of the William M. Feehan Monday.
The new boat is slightly scaled down from the usual Firestorm 70 to meet specific FDNY needs, with a shorter and narrower hull at 66’x18’x3’ and a smaller cabin and tool room. The boat is built for missions of firefighting, emergency response and patrol, and operation as a mobile command center. Its crew of four, including the pilot, engineer and two firefighters, are protected by the boat’s capabilities for operating amid chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.
William M. Feehan. Feehan family photo via 9/11 Memorial.Fittingly, the boat is named for firefighter William M. Feehan, who at age 71 was a distinguished member of New York’s Bravest, and the oldest among the 343 firefighters who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Feehan had an extraordinary career as the only person to hold every rank in the FDNY, starting as a probationary fireman in 1959, rising to become chief of department and finally first deputy fire commissioner. In 2001 Feehan was working for the FDNY in a civilian administrative job, and raced to the World Trade Center along with the rest of the department. Feehan was the second-highest ranking member to die that day, along with Chief Peter Ganci.
His namesake is an all-aluminum boat – except for the name plate, milled from an I-beam that came out of the World Trade Center rubble.
"He was a fireman's fireman," said Salvatore Pastore, a lieutenant with FDNY Marine Company 6 in Brooklyn, and a 28-year veteran who was the department’s liaison with MetalCraft during design and construction of the William M. Feehan.
The boat is powered by three Caterpillar C-18 engines rated at 1,150 hp each, driving a trio of Hamilton HJ 403 waterjets with hoods connected by a ZF 665 transmission. That kicks the boat’s top speed up to 41 knots, from a cruise speed of 32 knots.
A Caterpillar C-9 engine rated at 510 hp drives the fire pump system, which includes two Darley ZSP models pushing 3,000 gpm at 150 psi that can dispense foam to one or both pumps. Up top is a Stang fire monitor mounted on the roof with remote controls, shooting 5,000 gpm at 80 psi.
On deck, four Elkhart Brass Spit-Fire monitors – two electrically controlled on the bow, two operated manually amidships – put out 2,000 gpm at 80 psi each. For waterfront firefighting operations there are two Storz 6” land supply connections.
Dry chemical suppressant is 300 lb. Purple K agent, and there is a Feecon 1.5 foam system.
Ship’s power comes from a Kohler 20 kW generator. At the helm, instrumentation is a Furuno TZ Touch suite and Simrad side-scan sonar. For night operations there is a FLIR Voyager III thermal imaging system and two Carlisle & Finch spotlights of 25 million candlepower.
Five Shox seats protect the crew from pounding on high-speed runs. The cabin has a pressurized filter system for protection from chemical, biological and radiological materials. For supporting rescue and emergency medical services, there are two primary patient berths in the forward V-berth area, plus one additional patient berth in the main cabin, two Zodiac 10-person life rafts, and stowage for SCUBA gear. For the crew, there are two berths, a head with shower and sink, refrigerator and microwave oven.
