Fireboats

In the early hours, private fireboats fought the fire on the blazing rig as the Coast Guard, who had successfully rescued the survivors the first night, stood by and just watched. ❋ Robert L. Cavnar (2010)

Regarding Michael Moritz's "San Francisco's Public Pension Revolt" (op-ed, Oct. 22): The gentleman is misinformed about the purpose of the San Francisco Fire Department's two fireboats, the Guardian and the Phoenix. ❋ Unknown (2010)

When he was ready, he sent eight fireboats into the Spanish fleet which was anchored off Calais. ❋ Maxine (2009)

Because there was no central authority on site, the fireboats, desperately trying to save the rig, deluged its decks with millions of gallons of seawater, eventually flooding the vessel and actually hastening its ultimate sinking two days later. ❋ Robert L. Cavnar (2010)

In addition, the fireboats serve as regional assets to the area, being the only staffed fireboats in a multi-county region of the Bay Area. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Our fireboats are not obsolete, and when they are once again called on to respond to fires following a major earthquake, as they inevitably will be, they and their captains and engineers will prove once again to be one of the greatest bargains in the city's budget. ❋ Unknown (2010)

As the tugs, fast ferries, police launches, fireboats and other working and recreational watercraft pulled up to the foot of Manhattan, their crews would hang handmade signs on their railings saying where they were headed -- to Sandy Hook or Hoboken, Brooklyn or Staten Island. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Supposedly the "black Irish" descend from the survivors of the 1588 Spanish Armada that beached on the coast of Ireland after the fleet was broken up by the fireboats. ❋ Unknown (2009)

And farther out in the bay an aircraft carrier easing toward the Golden Gate, sent on its way by a mongrel fleet of small craft and three fireboats spritzing great arcs of water like a champagne farewell. ❋ Don Delillo (2008)

On the brisk clear morning of December 19, 1962, a flotilla of small ships bestowed a bellowing welcome and fireboats sprayed columns of seawater high in the air as the S.S. France entered New York Harbor. ❋ Davis, Margaret Leslie (2008)

Although I have been here for most of the floods of the past 10 years, I had never thought about the problems of getting ambulances or fireboats to side canals during very high tides. ❋ Unknown (2005)