South Bay : City Fireboat No Longer Homeless
It took nine years and $12 million, but the last of the Los Angeles city fireboats finally has a dock to call its own.
The 70-year-old Fireboat No. 2, which for years was rotated at temporary moorings in San Pedro Harbor, pulled into its own enclosed wharf two weeks ago. It was the last of the five city fireboats to get a home.
“It was a long time coming,” said Fire Department Inspector Alan Masumoto.
The fireboats are essential to the harbor and not just for fighting boat fires, Masumoto said. They also handle calls for sinkings and spills, capsized boats and wharf fires. Each boat is equipped with a special nozzle for battling blazes under wharves.
The new, two-story station at the water’s edge on Harbor Boulevard will also house an engine company, a rescue ambulance and a foam carrier, allowing land-based firefighters to move out of a run-down firehouse a few blocks inland. City Councilman Rudy Svorinich wants to convert that building into a community youth center.
The new fire station, paid for by the Harbor Department, has been on the books for nearly a decade, but the project stalled several times while officials tried to find the right piece of property.
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