New fire boat runs aground on way to Tampa

The navigational instruments said they were in the middle of the channel.

Then they ran aground on a beach near St. Augustine at 11 p.m. Wednesday.

The new $3.8 million, 69-foot-long Tampa Fire Boat Patriot suffered no damage, said Capt. Bill Wade, a spokesman for Tampa Fire Rescue.

"The boat came to a sudden stop," said Wade, who added there were no injuries. "It was pretty obvious what had happened. We had run aground somewhere."

Wade and the crew of seven stayed on the boat throughout the night until a tugboat arrived at noon Thursday. The tugboat pulled the boat off the sand and the vessel went on its own to a nearby marina to get checked out, Wade said.

Wade said that residents told them that about a dozen boats have run aground this year at the same location.

Along with Wade, the crew on the boat includes two Tampa firefighters, a fire department mechanic and three staff members from Metalcraft Marine, who built the vessel, Wade said.

They anticipated arriving at Cape Canaveral at 5 p.m. Thursday and hoped to arrive at noon Monday at Davis Islands.

The new boat, which was bought by a federal government grant, is needed to allow firefighters to work quickly, safely and be responsive to the large number of cargo ships and passenger vessels that travel daily to and from the Port of Tampa, Wade said.

The fire department has two boats now. One is 27 feet and the other is 30 feet, Wade said.

The new vessel has sonar equipment that maps the water column underneath and can refill scuba diving tanks on board.

It has multiple hose connections to fight fires. It can pump water equivalent to a dozen fire trucks, pumping about 13,000 gallons of water a minute, Wade said.

He said they will use the boat from the Port of Tampa and Port of Manatee to past the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

The boat began its voyage on Sept. 11 from Kingston, Ontario, where it was built by Metalcraft Marine.

A boat captain from the company was piloting the boat when it ran aground. Metalcraft was responsible for covering the costs of freeing the boat.