A fire on a containership at the Port of Los Angeles was fought by an array of emergency responders on Friday evening, accounting for the safety of 23 ship crew members and moving the vessel safely to anchorage one mile offshore around 3 a.m. to continue controlling the fire, according to Los Angeles fire officials and the Coast Guard.
The 1102’x150’ Panama-flagged One Henry Hudson was moored at Berth 218 in the Port of Los Angeles at 6:38 p.m. when the Los Angeles City Fire Department and other agencies responded to reports of a fire.
Los Angeles firefighters were first on the scene “and immediately coordinated a response with local partners from other agencies,” said Assistant Chief Carlos Calvillo, the LAFD incident commander.
“Fire burned on multiple sub-levels below deck in areas that were largely inaccessible, which required a high level of communication and coordination from everyone to ensure the safety of on scene personnel and the crew members aboard the vessel. Remarkably, and thankfully, no injuries have been reported as a result of this ship fire.”
A unified command was established and the LAFD deployed nearly 200 personnel. The Long Beach Fire Department deployed a foam apparatus and fire boats 15 and 20 to assist fire suppression efforts alongside five of LAFD's fire boats.
Thermal imaging provided by fixed-wing aircraft helped monitor fire conditions and heat signatures from above, and several of the ship's 23 crew members “initially assisted firefighters in gaining access to the lower decks of the ship, but all 23 members were ultimately safely assisted off the vessel with the help of Los Angeles Port Police and United States Customs and Border Protection,” according to an LAFD statement.
“Fire suppression and vessel management during the incident presented extraordinary challenges. Fire burned on multiple sub-levels below deck, in areas that were largely inaccessible,” according to the fire department.
Around 8 p.m. a mid-ship explosion caused onboard lights and cranes to lose power.
And began continuous air monitoring. “While air quality readings in the smoke plume remained within normal ranges, Unified Command issued a precautionary shelter-in-place order for San Pedro and Wilmington residents out of an abundance of caution.,” according to the fire department.
As conditions onboard deteriorated, the unified command ordered all firefighters to withdraw from the ship. The firefight continued from a safe distance using master streams (large-diameter hand lines, aerial ladder pipes, and heavy-flow battery devices mounted on fire engines and fire boats).
Around 3 a.m. Saturday the unified command started a large-scale effort to undock the ship and escort it from the port and out to sea beyond the Vincent Thomas Bridge, while operations continued with fire suppression, safety, structural and air quality monitoring.
The One Henry Hudson was anchored around 4:43 a.m. in the Wilmington-Harbor City “approximately one mile from shore, near Angel's Gate Lighthouse,” the unified command reported.
The Port of Los Angeles worked with the Port of Long Beach to provide fire boat presence on-scene, conducting fire suppression efforts and enforcing a safety zone around the ship.
“The successful isolation of this vessel fire shows a strong partnership between the Port of Los Angeles and our local partners,” said Capt. Daniel Cobos, Port of Los Angeles Police Department incident commander. “Our coordinated response ensured operations continued uninterrupted at one of the largest ports in the country.”
