2019 News

News by Year:    2020 2019 2018 2017 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007

September 10, 2019

WPRI Channel 12 Eyewitness News reports on a large marina fire early this morning in North Kingstown, RI.

Warwick and Cranston Firestorm 32 boats were on scene pumping water onto the fire directly and providing large diameter water supply to trucks.

Here's the story:

Commercial building ‘a total loss’ after fire tears through 2 North Kingstown businesses

by: Kim Kalunian, Alexandra Leslie

Posted: Sep 10, 2019 / 05:34 AM EDT / Updated: Sep 10, 2019 / 07:41 PM EDT

Massive marina fire in North Kingstown, RI.

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) — A building at the Wickford Shipyard Marina in North Kingstown has been deemed a total loss after a destructive three-alarm fire early Tuesday morning, according to North Kingstown Fire Chief Scott Kettelle.

Firefighters from several surrounding communities including Narragansett, South Kingstown, East Greenwich, Warwick, West Warwick and Exeter responded to Steamboat Avenue after the first call came in around 4:07 a.m. Tuesday, according to Kettelle.

“The building in question is a light-gauge metal building, so it is not heavily constructed. As a result, early on in the fire, we had a collapse of some of the sidewalls,” Kettelle said. “There were no people inside the building, so we did not risk putting people in at that point. We kept people at a safe distance.”

The structure housed two small businesses: Coastal Ironworks and the George W. Zachorne Jr. and Sons shipbuilding and repair shop.

Euegene Lee -the set designer for Saturday Night Live and the Broadway musical “Wicked” – had commissioned George Zachorne and his son Dominic to build him a custom boat.

The ship was lost in the fire, but another of Lee’s boats was being kept just outside the building.

“It’s going to have to be rebuilt,” Lee said, turning away from the charred building. “I can barely look at it, it’s so awful.”

Firefighters arrived to heavy smoke coming from the upper floors of the building and were unable to enter because of the ferocity of the flames. Fireboats from Newport, Warwick and Cranston pumped water from the bay onto the burning building.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) said there was minimal impact to the water and that catastrophe was avoided when a 6,000-gallon tank of diesel and gasoline next to the building was spared by the flames.

No one was hurt, but many who visited the scene of the fire Tuesday lamented the fate of the boats, tools and artifacts that the Zachorne family had stored inside the building for 18 years.

“It wasn’t just a workplace, [it was] literally their entire lives,” said Ted Romanosky, a customer and friend of the family. “A lot of personal effects, a lot of family history, and the shop was really more of a museum than anything else.”

“Devastating, it’s really devastating,” he added.

When reached by phone, George Zachorne said the fire is a tough pill to swallow. A life-long shipbuilder who lives part-time on a boat, he said he wasn’t sure what the estimated cost of the damage would be.

“I’m afraid I haven’t considered that,” he said.

The Rhode Island State Fire Marshal was on scene Tuesday. Investigators are set to review drone footage and surveillance video as they investigate the cause.

“I hardly know how one recovers from this,” Lee said.

October 1, 2019
Press release – FireStorm 50 – Kuwait Fire Services Directorate
FireStorm 50 – Kuwait Fire Services Directorate

MetalCraft Marine Inc. (MCM) has delivered their 18th NFPA Type III Fireboat in 14 years.

In 2015 the Kuwait Fire Services Directorate (KFSD) ordered their first FireStorm 50’, along with a 50’ STLC landing craft support craft. The KFSD liked the FireStorm 50’ so much, they bought Two more in 2016. The KFSD have now received their Fourth FS50.

The new FS-50 has the very latest in technology available for fire fighting and search and rescue. This is the first FireStorm powered by Volvo D13 1000 HP twin diesels. It is propelled by the first Marine Jet Power 310X mixed flow waterjets installed in North America. The combination of lighter weight engines at equivalent power and warranty, coupled to lighter jets with higher Jet thrust, pushed the typically heavily laden fireboat to 44.5 knots. MetalCraft prefers to use ZF Marine gears. ZF sized the gears to match the Jet impeller size and engine speed with zero loss in efficiency at the high or low end of vessel performance. The engine room ventilation was provided by Delta ‘T’ Systems of Florida.

The boat’s electronics are the latest offerings by Raymarine, the Axiom PRO Series. The boat has three 16” screens and one 8” screen in the aft helms hinged enclosure, all screens are built into the consoles. The screens can display all camera systems including stabilized FLIR M Series night vision camera, as well as provide remote drone control, World Wide Web access, and they can be preloaded with SAR rescue patterns. The boat also has the latest in Radio Direction Finding technology. The Rhotheta RT-500 M can not only interpret the radio hex code of a mayday call but also pinpoint the location via Doppler technology.

The boat has the best in HVAC using twin 27K BTU Dometic Cruise Stowaway Turbo Air HVAC units each capable of cooling the entire vessel cabin spaces with a back-up engine driven 36K BTU Arctic Wolf compressor, for use in the case of an AC power supply malfunction. In 120°F (50°C) you can’t do anything without air conditioning.

The fire main system (which is a MetalCraft proprietary designed system) is fully compliant with NFPA 1925 standards. The Fire pump has oversized sea chest intakes that are easily cleaned from inside the vessel. The oversized long radius elbows, and oversized manifolds help to achieve pumping numbers well over rated capacity. The twin W.S. Darley ZSM 3000 pumps achieved 7500 Gallons per minute in sea trial testing. A standard fire truck pumper can pump 1250-1500 GPM. W.S. Darley have no problem providing service in Kuwait or any other place in the world, and they offer a three year warranty on all of their pumps. The Fire pumps supply Roof and Bow mounted EXM Scorpion 2500 GPM remote controlled monitors by Elkhart Brass. The vessel is also equipped with twin Bronze Copperhead 1250 GPM manual monitors on the aft deck. The Generator is a Kohler 20 KW, to support multiple large electric dewatering pumps. Kohler is well supported in the Middle East.

Photos of this new vessel for Kuwait Fire Services Directorate are here on Flickr.

Continuous improvement in systems design are key elements at MCM. MCM have achieved the lowest warranty and service call rates in North America, the Middle East and beyond.

News by Year:    2020 2019 2018 2017 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007