A call has gone out to help name a brand new fire boat commissioned by Cornwall Fire, Rescue and Community Safety Service – but don’t even think about Boaty McBoatface…

This is the first especially built boat for the service and will be used for maritime incidents and in partnership with other emergency services for prevention, boat safety and as cover during busy events such as regattas.

Station manager Steve Wilkinson said: ’We want the public to send us suggestions for a good name for the new boat which should be ready to launch later this year.’

Some things to bear in mind when making your suggestion:

Cornish links are encouraged for the suggested name.

Keep it short - This is the sensible option in emergencies. Should you ever need to call for assistance, every second can count, so a shorter name is better.

Suitability - keep your name suggestion family friendly.

Safety - Try repeating your chosen name out loud, as if in a call to the Coastguard for example, and assess how it sounds. You need to make sure your suggested name is easy to say and hear in case of an emergency.

The deadline to submit a suggestion is 5pm on August 7 and you can find full details of how to get involved at http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/fireboat

The Cornwall Fire, Rescue and Community Safety Service will consider all the suggestions and then open up a poll where  the public will be able to vote for their favourite name. 

But the service says: ’Please note that Boaty McBoatface is already in use elsewhere and so won’t be considered.’