The Waco Fire Department has taken delivery of a 26' custom-built Lake Assault Boats fireboat and rescue craft. The new vessel provides a wide range of emergency response services on Lake Waco (a 12-square-mile body of water located within the city limits) as well as a section of the Brazos River that flows through the department’s protection area in central Texas. The craft was purchased through Lake Assault Boats’ listings on GSA (General Services Administration) Advantage Schedule 84 that includes marine craft.
“Our department first learned about Lake Assault Boats through Lake Travis Fire Rescue, a neighboring department,” R. M. Bergerson, deputy chief of emergency operations for the Waco Fire Department, said in a statement announcing the delivery. “We’d seen their boat in action and heard good things. We just placed the new boat into service, and its capabilities for firefighting, rescue, and dive operations are impressive.”
A pair of 225-hp Honda outboard engines supplies the boat's main propulsion. The hull features a 63" hydraulically operated bow door that opens to 90° and can safely be deployed and operated at slow speeds. There are six-foot-long lockable storage compartments on either side of the bow deck as well as storage racks to hold dive equipment.
The craft’s firefighting system includes a Hale Attack Max fire pump rated at 550 gpm and powered by a dedicated 35-hp marinized engine. Two TFT portable Hemisphere monitors (one with a fog nozzle and a second with a smooth bore tip) are on board. Water is supplied through a 4" intake into a sea chest.
No additional specifications were included in the release.
