The Greek Fire Service has begun deploying a new class of high speed boat designed to reach burning coastlines that aircraft and land crews cannot get to, adding a way to pull residents to safety when a fire front cuts off the roads out. The Rafnar boats, built from composite materials, are meant to work in ports, marinas and along the coast, with two main jobs: helping put out fires that reach the water’s edge and getting civilians out of danger when flames have sealed off routes on land.
Each boat runs about 12 meters long, with a beam of 3.2 meters and a draft of just 88 centimeters, shallow enough to get close to rocky or shallow shoreline that would ground a standard vessel. Three outboard diesel engines with a combined 1,050 horsepower give it a top speed near 50 knots and a range of 250 nautical miles. A fire cannon mounted on the bow delivers up to 1,800 liters of water a minute. It runs on a crew of three but can carry up to 12 people altogether, enough room for a group pulled off a beach with nowhere else to go.
The boats are built to operate in conditions that keep other assets grounded. The commander of the Fire Service station at the port of Lavrio told Greek state broadcaster ERT that the Rafnar boats can still approach the coast in strong wind and heavy seas that rule out helicopters and other aircraft.
Already tested in this summer’s fires
That proved decisive during the fires that broke out in Boeotia, on July 31, when gale force gusts kept firefighting aircraft out of the sky for stretches of the operation. Rafnar boats moved in from the water instead, helping evacuate residents and fight the flames at Porto Germeno and Agios Vasileios in western Attica, on the island of Salamina, and in Chalkidiki, the peninsula in northern Greece known for its three coastal “legs.” Officials said that in several of those fires, the boats were the only safe way in once the fire had cut off the roads.
The same boats also double as transport, carrying firefighters, equipment and members of EMAK, Greece’s special disaster response unit, out to islands and coastal areas that are otherwise hard to reach.
Fleet set to nearly double by November
The Fire Service currently has eight Rafnar boats in service, distributed around the country and sent wherever they are needed most. Seven more are due to arrive gradually by November, bringing the total to 15.
Officials describe the buildup as an effort to widen what the Fire Service can do from the sea, with getting people out of danger as the priority and, conditions permitting, ferrying in firefighting crews to work the blaze from the water.
Source: TA NEA
