Northwind Marine Builds Versatile Public Safety Fire and Police Boat

You might call Edmonds’, WA, new Argus Class aluminum public safety fire and rescue boat a “Puget Sound Class.” To meet the requirements of the Edmonds Fire and Police Departments, Seattle’s Northwind Marine, Inc. modified their existing Argus Class boat design to incorporate Edmonds requests.

Like many other bays, sounds, or large lakes, Puget Sound is dotted with widely spaced communities with stretches of inaccessible shoreline. The mission requirements for Edmonds’ new multi-purpose boat were not only to fight fires, rescue divers and mariners, and deliver large volumes of water to isolated shores, but also incorporate the capability to rapidly deploy emergency medical and law enforcement personnel and equipment.

Among salient features of the Edmonds’ boat is a 36” wide bow door. Most of the shoreline in Edmonds’ response area is either breakwater or riprap. Edmonds’ previous rescue boats were not engineered to take the punishment of beaching on large shoreline boulders. As a result, victims far away from a suitable beaching area were difficult to rescue and valuable time was lost transporting the patient back to the rescue boat.

Additional needs included a wide front cabin door to place backboard transported patients on the casualty bench and a dive door with an integrated dive ladder. While a pair of Honda outboards rapidly propel the boat, secondary propulsion and water delivery is provided by Northwind Marine’s proprietary diverter system.

An inboard gasoline engine powers a pump to supply monitors as well as hydrants that can deliver up to 4000 gpm either ashore or to tankers. With a controllable manifold, water power can be directed to a waterjet to augment propulsion.

Northwind Marine knows a lot about designing dedicated fireboats for use in fresh or salt water. The Seattle company has built 44 of these craft ranging in size from 19 to 50-feet, perhaps more than any other boat builder in North America, Bruce Reagan, president of the 30-year-old company, claims.

Fire fighters and police officers began training to use the boat when delivered in September, reported Edmonds Fire Chief Thomas J. Tomberg. According to Reagan, the chief and other personnel worked with him and Director of Special Projects Don Donart in defining and meeting the needs of the Edmonds Fire and Police Departments. As a result, Reagan said, the boat was “one of the nicest we’ve built,” incorporating the latest in concepts and equipment. Donart is a retired fire chief who operated fireboats on Coeur d’ Alene Lake before joining Northwind.

Northwind also has recently delivered similar boats to several ports in Ohio and Maryland. Northwind operates in a complex of buildings in Seattle’s south end industrial section along the Duwamish Waterway. In addition to fire and rescue boats, Northwind builds several lines of inflatable rigid aluminum hull boats (ARIB) and takes on a range of special projects. Northwind last summer completed an order for 20 boats for use by Iraqi security forces, Reagan said.

The boat built for Edmonds will be named the Charles W. Cain, after a long-time Edmonds volunteer fireman. Among other accomplishments, Cain was a founding member of the Edmonds Fire Safety Foundation, Chief Tomberg said. The foundation contributed a range of equipment for the boat.

The boat will be moored at Edmond’s 668-berth marina for use on call by the community’s fire and police departments. Edmonds crews also provide rescue and patrol services at nearby Edmonds Underwater Park, popular with area scuba divers.

Chief Tomberg also pointed out that the boat would be useful in fighting brush fires in areas primarily accessible from the water. In the past, he said, “we’ve had to come down over cliffs or run down the railroad tracks carrying emergency equipment. On occasion, we have even placed personnel and equipment on Burlington Northern trains to get into and out of the areas.” The boat will be able to pull to shore in 2-1/2 feet of water and deploy steps to beaches.

The overall length of the boat is 30 feet including two feet added for the outboard well. Maximum beam is 9 feet 6 inches. Draft is 1 foot 6 inches. The fuel cell holds 200 gallons.

Aluminum plate used in construction is marine alloy #5086 while structural framing materials are fabricated from #5086 and #5052 aluminum plate. A double row of Johnson DB 75, heavy duty rubber fendering is installed around the bow. Two counter rotating Honda 225-hp outboards are equipped with extra long shafts and stainless steel props.

The 320-hp propulsion/pumping engine is controlled from the pilot station. The water jet propulsion pump unit is modified with a specially designed aluminum diverter assembly leading into the fire fighting manifold. Discharge water volume at the monitor is in excess of 1000 gpm at 115 psi and 3000 gpm at 55 psi. The bow mounts a 3-inch valved outlet fitted with a 3-inch monitor suitable for a 2-1/2 inch adjustable fog and solid stream nozzle. Discharge ports include a 4-inch Storz in the bow area, a 4-inch gated swivel Storz in the stern with two 2 ½-inch gated NST outlets and one 1 ½-inch NST gated discharge with a hose rack on the portside in the cockpit area across from the dive door.

The 12-volt electrical system involves four Group 31 heavy-duty marine series batteries, isolation boxes and a DC circuit breaker electrical distribution panel. A Rule 2000-gph bilge pump is installed in the engine space.

The pilot cabin is fitted with a Todd pedestal seat. The navigator’s station involves a removable Todd chair on the casualty bench. Miscellaneous equipment includes bow beaching plates, 10” cleats, a stainless steel bow eye, self-bailing decks, and a starboard mounted 500-pound capacity manual davit.

Northwind calls this type of boat the “Argus Class.” The class was designed to meet Lloyds’ specifications for Special Service Craft and boats “are heavily constructed …to withstand commercial conditions and are engineered and built to be used in emergency operations and daily patrol use including boarding of other vessels and normal beaching.”

The hull structure and component parts are fabricated using CAD/CAM engineering and cut by a numerically controlled plasma machine. The hull is designed to keep the vessel buoyant if the boat is swamped or overturned, with watertight voids filled with U. S. C. G. certified flotation foam.

For more information about Northwind and its tough, well-designed aluminum boats and A-RIBs check out the web site: www.northwindmarine.com.