A historic floating museum in Greenport is trying to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for a restoration project.

The Fire Fighter, a boat used to answer fire calls for more than seven decades, is now a museum and a national landmark.

New York City used the boat in hundreds of fires over the years, and it was in lower Manhattan in response to the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The FDNY got new fire boats in 2010 and decommissioned it, and it became a floating museum now docked in Greenport. A local businessman agreed to loan the museum money to restore and repair the hull, but the museum hopes to raise $250,000 to restore the rest of the boat this winter.

"Once the fire department knew they were getting new boats, they decided that they can slack off on the maintenance and the painting," says Charlie Ritchie, of the Fireboat Fire Fighter Museum. "It's had over 10 years of neglect, so we want to attack these areas because things rust, and rust become holes."