Previously the privately owned T.J. Clark had provided firefighting capability.
The Charles A. Reed was used well into the 1950s and retired in 1964 and replaced by William Lyon Mackenzie.
[2][3] The Charles A. Reed was deployed to fight the fire that destroyed the SS Noronic in 1949 at Pier 9.
[2][4][3] Historian Mike Filey described the vessel's wooden hull being damaged by the heat of the Noronic's blaze.
[5] He wrote that there is no record of the association with the fire department, that triggered him being honoured by having a fireboat named after him.