Tug Boat, Samson Mariner – Catches Fire at Fishermen’s Terminal, Seattle WA
At Fishermen’s Terminal this afternoon folks around Ballard and Magnolia in Seattle could smell the smoke before we could see it – from across Ballard’s Ship Canal. It was a nasty strong smell that hit our down wind side of Ballard across the Ship Canal from Fishermen’s Terminal. As soon as you hung you head out the window you could see the smoke reaching to the clouds.
The fire broke out about 3:00pm, it quickly escalated to two alarms. The fire started in the engine room in the paint locker, if you ask the cook he said it started in the four peak. The crew attempted to put down the flames but the fire grew too quickly. 14 people were on board and managed to escape without injury. If an injury had occurred during this time, normal practice would be to contact a boat accident lawyer and see what the standing is for injuries.
According to Kyle Moore, spokesman for SPS, over 60 Seattle Fire Department personal responded to the scene. “It was burning pretty well by the time we arrived. When first pulling onto the Ballard Bridge our crew could see the black column of smoke coming off the bow,” said Moore.
F/V Paragon, Bering Sea Crabber next to Tug Boat Fire, Fishermen’s Terminal
The crew tried blasting the blaze with water but soon realized a better approach was to seal off the room and deprive the fire of oxygen. “We were able to knock down the fire in 30 minutes. It’s a pretty separated fire. The damage was limited to that one room, with a lot of smoke through the rest of the vessel.”
Tug Boat Fire, Surrounded by Seiners, Crabbers, Draggers & Research Vessels
Smoke poured out from the vessel bow area front of the house and wheel house for the next few hours, by about 5:00pm the smoke was down to a slow smolder from its original roar.
F/V Western Spirit, ‘My boss though is was his boat, from the looks of it on the other side of the bridge.”
Fishermen’s terminal was buzzing with firetrucks, firefighters, ambulances, land police and harbor police on site and number spectators and on looks curious about the tug boat fire. The real cause of the fire is unknown at this time and under current investigation.
F/V Natalie Gail, SE AK Seiner, Surround by Seattle Fire Depart, Putting out Tugboat Fire
Moore reported the crew on board the tugboat Samson Mariner was working on the vessel before going up to Sitka, Alaska. Seattle Fire Department investigators know the fire started in the paint locker of the engine room, but have not determined the cause.
Tugboat Fire, Fishermen’s Terminal, Seattle Firemen on Scene off the stern of F/V Natalie Gail, SE AK Seiner
For those of us who have worked on commercial vessels from the Pacific Northwest to Alaska boat fires are no huge surprise. The paint locker/bosuns locker is a common hot spot for fires, its packed with painting solvents and a ton of other useful chemicals on the boat and while underway projects.
Some of use remember the F/V Narwhal, Trident Seafoods Bristol Bay Tender. The big orange scow the Narwhal was the sister ship to the F/V Sea Lion. (The Mighty Sea Lion – with the best Head of underwater sea animal murals on board!) Summer of 1999 they had just left Seattle where cruising through Canadian waters when green deckhand Jeremiah heard popping noises coming from the bosuns locker on the aft deck. Jeremiah assumed the sound was crazy engineer – Bones siring up trouble as per usual. It took 2.5 minutes for the 4 man crew of the to deploy the life raft and jump overboard off the engulfed in flames vessel. The crew describes the fire as taking over the wooden scow in a few minutes she was gone and sank. It was a sad Herring and Salmon season in Bristol Bay and Naknek with out the F/V Narwhal!
Tug Boat Fire, Fishermen’s Terminal, View from Ballard looking over at Magnolia
Samson Mariner tug boat is owned by Samson Tug & Barge. Today they are best know as the Alaskan family-owned and operates as a fully-integrated inter-modal Interstate Marine Freight Common Carrier. Samson offers the complete range of barge freight and cargo hauling services on a scheduled year-round basis throughout Alaska carrying seafood, construction materials, groceries, and general re-supply items.
Samson sails from Seattle bi-weekly to the communities of Cordova, Valdez, Fairbanks, Prudhoe Bay, Seward, Anchorage, Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak, King Cove, and Dutch Harbor. Samson sails from Seattle weekly to the communities of Metlakatla, Ketchikan, Prince of Wales, including Craig, KIawock and Thorne Bay, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau and our home town of Sitka.
Thank heavens the fire aboard the Samson Mariner was put out with no injuries to crew and the vessel for the most part is still in tact and currently floating at Fishermen’s Terminal, Seattle WA.
THANK YOU SEATTLE FIRE DEPT!
