Greece Expands Fire Service Rafnar Fleet to Fight Wildfires

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