Harbor Firefighting— A Joint Effort in Thunder Bay
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EQUIPMENT
The City of Thunder Bay, Ontario, situated on the northwest shore of Lake Superior, is one of the busiest ports in North America and the second largest port in Canada. Millions of tons of grain, coal, potash, iron ore, petroleum, forest products, etc., move through the port each year. In 1983, a total of 22.5-million metric tons (24.8-million short tons) of cargo moved through this port in 1,359 ships. With all this activity, marine emergency planning is imperative.
Harbor fires involving ships have been relatively rare in the past, but since 1945, explosions in grain elevators situated along the waterfront have accounted for the deaths of over 30 workers, injuries to 43, and sustained loss figures of over $11.3-million. Although land-based operations for firefighting and rescue were adequate, waterborne firefighting facilities and equipment would have been of considerable assistance.
The Thunder Bay Fire Department has nine stations, 198 firefighters, and a 156-square-mile response district. To assist in firefighting operations on sections of the waterfront, the department also had one 625-imperial-gallon-per-minute (igpm) two-wheeled trailer pump to relieve land fire pumpers from long-term pumping operations. Expanding our response area to include full harbor protection with a full-time fire vessel was beyond our resources.
However, we investigated the possibility of using various watercraft in the harbor to give the trailer pump the marine mobility we needed to make it an effective harbor firefighting unit.
The pump, 5 feet, 7 inches wide and 12 1/2 feet long, weighs 3,410 pounds, therefore eliminating the idea of it being carried on private crafts due to its stability and size.
About five years ago, this problem was discussed with representatives of tug companies, the Lakehead Harbour Commission (the port authority), and officials of the fire department and the Canadian Coast Guard. This led to loading, stowage, and operations tests with two tugs donated by Gravel and Lake Services.
The tugs are approximately 80 feet long, 25 feet wide, have a 97-ton displacement, and a cruising speed of about 12-14 knots. The pump was towed behind one of the department’s four-wheel drive bush trucks. The time from the pump’s arrival on the jetty to full operation aboard the tug was 15 minutes. The idea was feasible.
The Lakehead Harbour Commission then offered to purchase a second pump unit and donate it to the Thunder Bay Fire Department. This pump was built to fire department specifications. The pump is 83 inches wide and 12 1/2 feet long. It has a pumping capacity of 840 igpm at 150 psi. Western Engineering, another local tug company, offered the use of two additional pumps, one 625 igpm and the other 840 igpm.
Securing a pump unit to a tug pre-sents no particular problem. They can be mounted on the afterdeck of any of the tugs. If necessary, there is room for both pumps to work simultaneously on one tug. Special chocks are all that are required to secure the pump to the tug as the unit will be used mainly in the sheltered waters inside the breakwater.
Pumping and tug movement is possible simultaneously, but at no more than two knots, mainly due to the dif-ficulty in securing the hard suction. The intake for hard suction on most tug installations is no more than 10 or 12 1 feet forward of the screw, thus the cav-1 itation caused by reversed engine running often results in loss of prime. When running in the forward direction, priming is almost automatic due to the thrust of the water into the intake.
photo by William Mill
In winter when the harbor ice is nearly 36 inches thick, these pump units can draft water from holes cut in the ice.
Though this project was originally planned to afford some measure of protection to marine traffic, its use as a marine water supply to land-based firefighting operations comes as a bonus. Along the waterfront are four paper mills, shipbuilding facilities, boat yards, marinas, boat clubs, dry-bulk handling facilities, 17 terminal elevators for grain and grain products, a creosote plant, and Keefer Terminal (a facility for general and special cargoes).
Many of the areas along the waterfront have neither hydrants nor drafting sites. In particular, there is an area with three petroleum tank farms. Most areas where potential hazards exist are accessible to these tugs.
These portable pumps are capable of deluge, handline, and foam evolutions. Although they have never had to be used on a major working fire, the pumps’ potential value when other water sources fail or are non-existent cannot be overestimated.
Thunder Bay’s harbor is over 27 miles long with four locations suitable for pump loading. Fire crews are trained in the use of mobile crane equipment so that no time is lost loading in off-hours when crane operators are not on duty.
One of the most important benefits of this method of harbor firefighting is the “esprit de corps” which now exists among the tug companies, the Lakehead Harbour Commission, the Thunder Bay Fire Department, and the Canadian Coast Guard.
photo by William Mill
