NFPA Journal - Fall 2023 - 19

AP PHOTO/JOHN MINCHILLO
MARINE VESSELS
CARGO DISASTER
A FIRE ABOARD A CARGO SHIP DOCKED
IN NEW JERSEY KILLS TWO FIREFIGHTERS
AND UNDERSCORES THE EXTREME
CHALLENGES OF FIGHTING FIRES ON
MARINE VESSELS
I
n early July, the Grande Costa d'Avorio, an
Italian-flagged cargo ship, pulled into Port
Newark, New Jersey, to take on a load of used
cars bound for West Africa. The ship had
deposited a load of new electric vehicles in
Baltimore before heading to New Jersey, and was scheduled
to stop in Providence, Rhode Island, to pick up additional
used vehicles before beginning its Atlantic crossing.
On the evening of July 5, though, a fire broke out on the
ship's 10th deck and spread rapidly to two higher decks. The
vessel carried approximately 1,200 vehicles at the time of
the fire, and scores were engulfed as the blaze spread. Newark's
fire department responded, and two firefighters died
when they became trapped during fire operations onboard
the ship. The fire wasn't officially declared out until nearly
a week later, and salvage operations could take up to two
months to complete, officials said. The investigation into the
cause of the fire continues, but early speculation suggested
that electric vehicles might have been responsible, considering
the duration of the fire, its intensity, and the difficulties
responders faced while fighting it. But the port director for
the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told the New
York Times that the ship's manifest indicated there were no
electric vehicles onboard at the time of the fire.
Regardless of cause, fires onboard ships present challenges
and hazards that are fundamentally different from other
kinds of fires, and they can be especially challenging for firefighters
trained primarily for structure fires. A 2019 NFPA
Journal cover story, " Close Quarters, " described a number of
these challenges, along with the NFPA standards designed to
mitigate threats and the NFPA-developed training programs
designed to provide responders and others with the specialized
skills necessary to prevent, manage, and fight fires
aboard marine vessels.
" The way ships are constructed present huge challenges,
the way they trap heat and affect fire growth, " said Forest
Herndon, a veteran of the marine firefighting industry, in the
Journal article. " Firefighters could be ascending steep, slippery
ladders or trying to walk on decks that heat up to the
point where their feet are burning. Shipboard fires burn a lot
hotter than fires in land-based structures. You don't have the
ability to ventilate these fires, so your methods of addressing
them have to change. "
To read the " Close Quarters " feature, including profiles
of some of history's deadliest ship fires and explosions, visit
nfpa.org/closequarters.
-SCOTT SUTHERLAND
NFPA .ORG/JOURNAL * NFPA JOURNAL | 19
http://www.nfpa.org/closequarters http://nfpa.org/journal
NFPA Journal - Fall 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Fall 2023
