2 New Jersey firefighters died battling a blaze deep in a ship carrying 5,000 cars

AP ^

[navysealdad]

Two firefighters were killed battling a blaze that began when cars caught fire deep inside a cargo ship carrying 5,000 cars at a New Jersey port, Newark's fire chief said Thursday. Five other firefighters were injured but were expected to recover.

Responding firefighters found five to seven vehicles already on fire when they reached the 10th floor of the cargo ship at Port Newark around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night. The blaze quickly extended to the 11th and 12th floors, and as firefighters were pushed back by the intense heat, two of them were lost, Fire Chief Rufus Jackson said at a news conference.

[Vaduz]

Amen

[FarCenter]

The ship was carrying thousands of vehicles, which saw firefighters battling the blaze well into the early morning hours.

No electric cars or hazardous cargo were on the ship. The ship is not spilling fuel or in danger of sinking.

https://abc7ny.com/amp/newark-nj-firefighters-ship-fire-port-killed/13467079/

[Zathras]

Porsche lost an entire shipment last year.
It was clearly EV related.

[Shady]

30 year Vol FF here. Sorry. ABC extinguishers, we used 4 or 5, couldn’t use foam, ineffective.

[EngineDad]

I spent most of my adult life sailing on RO-ROs (Roll on -Roll off) otherwise called Car Carriers. Most as a Chief Engineer. The worse part of trying to fight a fire in the cargo hold is that usually there are no fire lanes or clear paths for the fire fighters to traverse. Every inch is used for cargo and the space between the cars is filled with lashing gear which is a tripping hazard. Combine that with heavy black smoke and you are in the dark barely able to move.

Generally, these spaces are protected with either Low Pressure CO2 or in some cases a foam smothering system. My guess here is a CO2 system that wasn't used or effective because there were no boundaries keeping the CO2 in the space because cargo hold water-tight doors were open- or the ship was ventilating the holds to remove smoke/heat to be able to see. Just a guess.

[TalBlack]

Wow, one unholy hell of a bad end.

RIP, Men…

[New Perspective]

You make some excellent points and unfortunately they were deadly to some brave men. Access to extinguish ignition points is not as easy as breaking a window or cutting a hole in a roof. It is a very different beast. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[Mean Daddy]

That’s why they have to use special extinguishers for the mag(nesium) wheels on race cars because it’ll burn under water.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for linking that report.

“ No electric cars or hazardous cargo were on the ship. The ship is not spilling
fuel or in danger of sinking.”

I’ve been trying to convey the message ICE are are fire hazards too.

Look at the dufuses on this thread that declared this had to be EVs.

I think we all recognize that EVs are problematic. So are ICE cars.

Do a little research on the numbers of ICE car fires each year.

All cars burn intensely. I do believe EV batteries are the worst, but
no heavily involved vehicle fire is tame.