MetalCraft delivers fourth fireboat to Kuwaiti agency

Metalcraftmarine Firestorm50copy

The following is text of a news release from MetalCraft Marine:

(KINGSTON, Ontario) — In 2015 the Kuwait Fire Services Directorate (KFSD) ordered its first FireStorm 50, along with a 50-foot STLC landing craft support craft. The KFSD liked the FireStorm 50 so much, it bought two more in 2016. The KFSD has now received its fourth FS 50.

The new FS 50 has the latest in technology for firefighting and search and rescue. This is the first FireStorm powered by Volvo D13 1,000-hp twin diesels. It is propelled by the first Marine Jet Power 310X mixed flow waterjets installed in North America. The combination of lighter weight engines at equivalent power and warranty, coupled to lighter jets with higher jet thrust, pushed the typically heavily laden fireboat to 44.5 knots. MetalCraft prefers to use ZF Marine gears. ZF sized the gears to match the jet impeller size and engine speed with zero loss in efficiency at the high or low end of vessel performance. The engine room ventilation was provided by Delta 'T' Systems of Florida.

The boat’s electronics are the latest offerings by Raymarine, the Axiom Pro Series. The boat has three 16-inch screens and one 8-inch screen in the aft helm hinged enclosure, and all screens are built into the consoles. The screens can display all camera systems including a stabilized FLIR M Series night vision camera, as well as provide remote drone control and Web access, and they can be preloaded with SAR patterns. The boat also has the latest in radio direction finding technology. The Rhotheta RT-500 M can not only interpret the radio hex code of a mayday call but also pinpoint the location via Doppler technology.

The boat has twin 27K-BTU Dometic turbo air HVAC units each capable of cooling the entire vessel cabin spaces, with a back-up engine driven 36K-BTU Arctic Wolf compressor for use in the case of an AC power supply malfunction. In 120-degree conditions, you can’t do anything without air conditioning.

The fire main system (which is a MetalCraft proprietary designed system) is fully compliant with NFPA 1925 standards. The fire pump has oversized sea chest intakes that are easily cleaned from inside the vessel. The oversized long radius elbows and oversized manifolds help to achieve pumping numbers well over rated capacity. The twin Darley ZSM 3000 pumps achieved 7,500 gallons per minute in sea trial testing. A standard fire truck pumper can pump 1,250 to 1,500 gpm. The fire pumps supply roof- and bow-mounted EXM Scorpion 2,500-gpm remote-controlled monitors by Elkhart Brass. The vessel is also equipped with twin Bronze Copperhead 1,250-gpm manual monitors on the aft deck. The generator is a Kohler 20 kW to support multiple large electric dewatering pumps.

Click here to view a FireStorm 50 video.

By Professional Mariner Staff