Fire Boating

I was just thinking of the Detroit fireboat Curtis Randolph, seen here giving a salute in June 2014, which battles fires on the Detroit River. It was most recently in service when the Boblo Boat Sainte Claire was destroyed by fire in July 2018. The boat is named for Curtis Randolph, the first black firefighter killed in the line of duty. Randolph, a member of the class of 1972 from Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, was a probationary firefighter for the Detroit Fire Fighter. He was killed at the age of 22 while fighting a fire on the east side of Detroit in October 1977. His funeral was held a few days later, and he was buried with full honors at Elmwood Cemetery in the firefighters plot. The fire boat bearing his name was put into commission in 1979.