By James Heinz
Last year on National Lighthouse Day I took a boat tour around the Chicago lighthouse as a guest of the Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse https://wmhs.org/a-lighthouse-tour-on-national-lighthouse-day/ The Friends arranged for Chicago’s current fireboat, the CHRISTOPHER WHEATLEY, to come out and show us what the boat can do.
According to WMHS files, the fireboat is named for Chicago firefighter Christopher Wheatley, who died in 2010 after he fell from a fire escape while fighting a restaurant fire. By what most would regard as an amazing coincidence, the vessel was built in Wheatley, Ontario.
Christopher’s parents, who attended the 2011 launch of the vessel, had a different interpretation. His father said, “His mother and I both agreed, he’s talking to us. He’s sending a message that he’s all right and we’ll see you another day.”
The WHEATLEY is the first new Chicago fireboat built in 60 years, and cost $8.5 million. She displaces 228 tons and it is 90 feet long and 28 feet wide. She is powered by two 1,450 diesel engines that give her a maximum speed of 13 knots. She has two separate 1,000 diesel engines to power her four water cannons, which can put out 15,000 gallons a minute.
Her design is similar to that of the former Milwaukee Fire Department boat DELUGE (https://wmhs.org/boats-that-kept-milwaukee-safe-chapter-4/ ) whose design in turn was influenced by the still afloat Chicago fireboat FRED BUSSE.
Like the DELUGE, WHEATLEY is built to navigate the shallow waters of the Chicago waterway system and to pass under the city’s many bridges without having to open them. Both boats have a water cannon mounted on a collapsible mast that can be extended to a height of thirty feet.
Both vessels were assigned to break ice in area rivers, with the WHEATLEY being able to break up to 12 inches of ice.
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James Heinz is the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society’s acquisitions director. He became interested in maritime history as a kid watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventures on TV. He was a Great Lakes wreck diver until three episodes of the bends forced him to retire from diving. He was a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee police officer for thirty years. He regularly flies either a Cessna 152 or 172.
Photo Credit: James Heinz
