The Royal Canadian Navy's Halifax based fireboat Firebird YTR 561 has now been put up for sale by GCSurplus: here
![]()
Built in 1975, and commissioned in 1978 the boat was one of two built for the RCN (Firebrand is based in Esquimalt) by Vancouver Shipyard, North Vancouver, BC. It arrived in Halifax in August 1978, nested in a barge of traprock, and towed by the tug Ocean Crown.
Originally classified as a Yard Fire Boat (YFB) it later became a Yard Tug Rescue (YTR), but was rarely if ever used as a tug. However it has tug-like propulsion of two azimuthing stern drives, powered by a pair of 385 bhp Cats and bow thruster, giving a 7.5 ton bollard pull. It also has a pair of 365 bhp Cats driving two fire pumps of 2500 igpm capacity @ 150 psi. These serve three 3" manual monitors and a variety of deck connections. It also carries 500 igals of AFF.
The 76ft x 20.5 ft x 8'-10" (draft) vessel carried a crew of 7 which included operators and firefighters. In addition to firefighting, the tug also carried out rescue work and security calls at various port installations. However, faced with cutbacks the night shift eliminated January 29, 2014. The tug was finally retired December 4, 2014. HMC Dockyard firefighting was then left to shore crews or the harbour tugs.
Closing date for the sale is August 13, 2017 and the minimum bid is $5,000. It is expected to fetch far more than that however.
![]()
At its customary berth in HMC Dockyard, Firebird shares space with YTL 593 Merrickville and YTB 642 Glenevis, part of the tug fleet operated by the Queen's Harbour Master.
Built in 1975, and commissioned in 1978 the boat was one of two built for the RCN (Firebrand is based in Esquimalt) by Vancouver Shipyard, North Vancouver, BC. It arrived in Halifax in August 1978, nested in a barge of traprock, and towed by the tug Ocean Crown.
Originally classified as a Yard Fire Boat (YFB) it later became a Yard Tug Rescue (YTR), but was rarely if ever used as a tug. However it has tug-like propulsion of two azimuthing stern drives, powered by a pair of 385 bhp Cats and bow thruster, giving a 7.5 ton bollard pull. It also has a pair of 365 bhp Cats driving two fire pumps of 2500 igpm capacity @ 150 psi. These serve three 3" manual monitors and a variety of deck connections. It also carries 500 igals of AFF.
The 76ft x 20.5 ft x 8'-10" (draft) vessel carried a crew of 7 which included operators and firefighters. In addition to firefighting, the tug also carried out rescue work and security calls at various port installations. However, faced with cutbacks the night shift eliminated January 29, 2014. The tug was finally retired December 4, 2014. HMC Dockyard firefighting was then left to shore crews or the harbour tugs.
Closing date for the sale is August 13, 2017 and the minimum bid is $5,000. It is expected to fetch far more than that however.
Firebird doing security rounds in the Narrows is likely heading for the Defense Research barge in Bedford Basin.
.