Fireboat Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro Jr November 9, 2020

Baltimore Shipspotting had the opportunity to visit the site where the former fireboat is undergoing restoration work to be attached to the Fire Museum of Maryland thanks for W Frank Mathers of the Baltimore & Chesapeake Steamboat Company and Eric Kelso of the Fire Museum of Maryland (also check out their Facebook page.

She was built in 1956 by RTC Shipbuilding of Camden, NJ (which closed in 1961 according to this page) and was 104’8″ by 21’8″ and a draft of 7’8″ according to this page which also has a great many excellent photos of her in service. She was named for the mayor of Baltimore at the time. She can be briefly seen in the opening credits of the movie Ladder 49.

Affectionately referred to as “Tommy” she was Baltimore, Maryland’s first diesel fireboat and the most powerful fireboat the city has owned with a pumping capacity of 12,000 gallons per minute.

In 2007 after 51 years of service she became Fireboat 2 when the current Fireboat 1, the John R. Frazier was added to the Baltimore Fire Department’s fleet. She was decommissioned in 2015 and fell into the hands of a scrapper who fortunately left a substantial portion of the fireboat.

She sat largely forgotten and abandoned at Sparrows Point until 2019 when the Fire Museum of Maryland and Tradepoint Atlantic (on whose property the boat sits) began a plan to save Tommy.

Once restored as close as possible to her 2007 appearance before going to second line. The interior of the wheelhouse will be returned as close to her 1956 appearance as possible. She will then be put on display at the Fire Museum to appear as though she is coming out of the building and to simulate a working fireboat including functioning fire monitors. Guests will be able to go on board and interact with exhibits.

The restoration effort can use your help. Many of the items that were onboard the fireboat were stripped after her decommissioning and are being searched for. Photos of items being sought can be seen on this page as well as contact for Eric Kelso, museum curator. Check out this brochure which has more details.

A GoFundMe has also been set up which is nearing the $100,000 goal for Phase 1 of 3 of this effort. Click here to help!

I took many more photos than are seen here and you can view them by clicking here. A short video I made can be seen below. I am aiming to make more visits to this boat to document restoration and display progress.