New fireboat will provide enhanced firefighting and rescue capabilities for maritime and commercial space.
The Canaveral Port Authority will receive $1.5 million in funding from the State of Florida to support the acquisition of a specialized fireboat to provide marine firefighting and rescue capabilities for Port Canaveral and the surrounding communities. Port Canaveral’s Marine Firefighting Rescue Vessel (MFRV) will be purpose built to offer enhanced fire protection and response time capabilities to serve the Port’s growing maritime operations and expanding space enterprise in the area.
In making the announcement at the Port’s Board of Commissioners June 26th meeting, Port Director and CEO Capt. John Murray explained the Florida legislative funding appropriation for Port Canaveral was co-sponsored by Florida Sen. Debbie Mayfield (R-Melbourne) and Fla. Rep. Rene Plasencia (R-Orlando), and included in the Department of Financial Services budget within the $90.9 billion state budget recently signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Port Canaveral has grown tremendously over the last few years and we’re getting ready to homeport North America’s first LNG-powered cruise ship next year. This fireboat will greatly enhance the core capabilities of our first responders to ensure the safety and security of our Port,” said Capt. Murray. “We’re grateful to Sen. Mayfield and Rep. Plasencia and our entire Brevard legislative delegation for their trust in the Port’s role in this community, and we thank Gov. DeSantis and the entire Florida legislature for supporting this important funding.”
The 65-foot fireboat will be custom designed and built to specifications with an estimated cost of $4.6 million. The MFRV will be maintained in a 24/7 ready state and operated for Port Canaveral by Canaveral Fire Rescue (CFR) and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
“Port Canaveral is a nationally and regionally significant Port, the second-busiest cruise port in the world, and the critical maritime nexus for the U.S. commercial space program,” Sen. Mayfield said. “This will be the only fully equipped fireboat operating in the Central Florida region, and will be available for mutual and automatic aid to surrounding cities or towns in Brevard County.”
Rep. Plasencia added, "Port Canaveral has long been an important component to our regional economic engine. We are excited with the direction they are headed and are honored to play a vital role in their success."
The high-tech enhanced maritime firefighting vessel will be equipped with conventional and dry-chemical firefighting apparatus. The vessel will have a minimum pumping capacity of 8,000 gallons per minute and will be equipped with firefighting foam and a Purple-K dry-chemical firefighting system. The vessel will also have an emergency medical treatment area on board and a communications system to function as an on-scene command vessel for maritime rescue operations.