Fireboat No. 1
Type: Ships
Owner: Metro Parks Tacoma
Phone: 253-305-1000
Designation*: NHL
Built: 1929
Location: 3300 Ruston Way, Tacoma
Map and directions (Courtesy Google Maps)
Hours: Daily
Admission: FREE

*DOE=Designated eligible; NR=National Register of Historic Places; NHL=National Historic Landmark; WHR=Washington Heritage Register; City=Local city; County=Local county; N/A=Not applicable

Comments from site users
12/9/2007 5 out of 5
Awesome

6/29/2007 4 out of 5
Great to see an old fireboat. My dad is a retired firefighter and it brought back memories.

6/29/2007 2 out of 5
Nice boat. But it's on land and you can't go aboard.

Fireboat No. 1 was built in 1929 by the Coastline Shipbuilding Company of Tacoma for $148,000. She is 96 feet, six inches long with a 21-foot, six-inch beam and a six-foot draft. Her seven water cannons have a capacity of 10,000 gallons per minute. The vessel was one of the first on the West Coast built specifically as a fireboat, rather than converted from a tugboat. Fire department personnel in the 1950s invented a method for adding dye to the fireboat's water plumes, making Fireboat No. 1 the first in the nation to highlight community events with its "rainbow of colors."

Fireboat No. 1 is the only fireboat in US history to protect a major port by itself for more than half a century. After 54 years of service to Tacoma in waterfront fire protection, harbor security patrols, search and rescue missions, and water pollution control, Fireboat No. 1 was put up on on a permanent dry berth at a public beach near Tacoma’s Old Town neighborhood. She is one of only five fireboats designated as National Historical landmarks. Visitors are able to walk around her exterior, but her interior is closed to the public.