Road Trip FLA March 2021

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~ ROAD TRIP ~
FLORIDA & MORE - MARCH 2021
| P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | P5 | P6 | P7 |

3 - On My Own. New Orleans Area

NEW ORLEANS, LA
We had visited New Orleans a few times in the past, but only briefly.
My research had indicated several potential fireboats in the area.
In addition, I wanted to see some of the NOLA Fire Stations and if possible,
get to the Southern most end of the Mississippi River.
Some heavy rains were forecast for the next day, so I set out to do as much
as I could before the weather arrived.

ROAD TRIP - FLORIDA - MARCH 2021

1 - South to the Sunshine State
2 - On My Own. Around the Gulf Coast
3 - On My Own. New Orleans Area
4 - On My Own. Why Not Crosby Texas!
5 - On My Own. Mississippi to Louisville
6 - On My Own. Vintage Fire Museum, Jeffersonville, IN
7 - On My Own. To Cincinnati and Beyond.

STATION 13
First stop was Engine 13.

NEW ORLEANS BOATS
This flat bottom style boat 15 was housed with Engine 13.
New Orleans FD has a number of small boats to handle the many canals and water ways.
The New Orleans Fire Boat "Blaze", which I had seen in the past, was not in service or in
the water apparently due to budget reasons.

STATION 18

STATION 35

RESCUE 7

STATION 26

STATION 14

STATION 7

HEADQUARTERS
New Orleans Central Station

Another Downtown station

STATION 16

STATION 5

PORT OF NEW ORLEANS
A lot of large ships come into the Port of New Orleans every day.
Protecting the Port is an impressive fireboat known as the "Gen. Roy S. Kelley."
This was one of the main reasons for coming all the way to the New Orleans area.

NEW ORLEANS FIREBOAT
The red, white, and blue fireboat "Gen. Roy S. Kelley" from across the Mississippi River.

"GEN. ROY S. KELLEY"
The "Gen. Roy S. Kelley" was built in 1994. The 1994 fireboat is capable of about 13,500 gpm.
The boat can be operated by a crew of 3 personnel.

The pilot house of the "Kelley" offers a great view of the river.

The vessel is setup to handle upwards of 24 passengers if necessary.

Several large remote controlled monitors can be operated from a single control point.

The "Deluge" was an older New Orleans Fireboat.

Harbor police ready to go when needed.

Dozens of large tankers and cargo ships come up and down the Mississippi River every day.

A lot of tug boats are on the move all the time.

PLAQUEMINES PORT
The lower 80 or so miles of the Mississippi River (below the Port of New Orleans) are protected
by three fireboats operated by the Port of Plaquemines.

BELLE CHASSE
The Port of Plaquemines has two boat locations. The Northern most and main facility is
in Belle Chasse, LA about 20 miles below New Orleans.
The largest and older of the three boats in the "Authority III" which is about a 90' 15,000 gpm vessel
was built around 2005.
A second boat, "Authority I" is a 55' Metal Shark delivered in 2015-16.

The "Authority I" is a 55' Metal Shark 6,000 gpm vessel delivered in 2015-16.

A GOOD DAY
Having found the "Kelley" and two out of three of the Plaquemines boats, the day was very successful.
I had wanted to go as far South as I could along the Mississippi to a place called Venice, where the
"Authority II" is located, but its about a 50 mile drive each way, so we called it a day.

THE NEXT DAY
A lot of rain was predicted. Up to 8" in 24 hours. But, looking at the radar it was not coming
for a few hours so we took advantage and headed for Venice.

ROUTE 23
Route 23 is the highway from the New Orleans area to Venice.
There were several fire stations along the route.

"Mack Wanna Be"

This was about as far South as I went, just a little beyond Venice.

VENICE, LA
The Port of Plaquemines "Authority II" is docked at the USCG station at Venice.

A "high" High School is built with floods and storms in mind.

The trip back north from Venice eventually headed into the rain and sure enough
it rained hard all night.

SOUTHERN LOUISIANA
The following day was still very wet, but we headed north from New Orleans towards
the Baton Rouge area. Southern Louisiana is very industrial with every imaginable
product being built, refined, shipped, or stored along the mighty Mississippi.

PORT OF SOUTH LOUISIANA
Another hopeful fireboat stop was at the Port of South Louisiana in Reserve, LA.
This agency has several fireboats that protect about 54 miles of the river North
of New Orleans.

The river was up due to the weather and season.

SOUTH LOUISIANA BOATS
The larger and newest of the fireboats is the 75' Metal Shark "Nathan Folse"
Two smaller vessels are also actively used. The fourth is the older boat "John James Charles"
which is no longer active.

The sky opened up before I made it back to dry land.

Wet, but worth the trip!

EAST BATON ROUGE FIREBOAT
Another boat that had caught my eye online was the green 2018 Silver Ships 42' Fireboat
operated by the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Department. That agency provide service for
many others along about 40 miles of the Mississippi from the Port of South Louisiana territory
to North of Baton Rouge. A call ahead resulted in a great tour of this fine vessel.

BATON ROUGE
Capital of Louisiana.

I've seen a lot of these signs. First one like this.

ROAD TRIP - FLORIDA - MARCH 2021

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2021