The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that land-based firefighters be better prepared for marine vessel firefighting following a fatal fire on the Con-Ro vessel Grande Costa D’Avorio in Newark, New Jersey, on 5 July 2023. The ship was docked at Port Newark when a vehicle used by shoreside workers to push used vehicles onto the vessel caught fire on an interior garage deck.
The ship’s captain ordered use of the vessel’s CO2 extinguishing system, but the crew were unable to close a large rampway door because the control panel was located inside the fire protection zone (where the CO2 would be released). The lack of operating controls on the outside of the door prevented the crew from safely closing the door and directly led to the ineffectiveness of the fire extinguishing system, contributing to the fire’s duration and severity.
Two land-based firefighters died while attempting to put out the fire. Six additional emergency responders were injured during the firefighting and rescue operations.
The damage to the vessel was estimated to be over US$23 million.
The NTSB found that directing firefighters to enter the area where the CO2 extinguishing system had been activated, contrary to general marine firefighting convention, exposed firefighters to additional and unnecessary risk. The Newark Fire Division was also not adequately prepared to respond to a vessel fire and lacked marine vessel firefighting training.
Investigators found the vessel fire resulted from the overheated transmission fluid of the pusher vehicle, which boiled over and ignited on a hot engine surface. The pusher vehicle was a passenger vehicle, and not suitable for use as a power industrial truck because it did not meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards for a power industrial truck.
The NTSB made recommendations to the Newark Fire Division and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the American Association of Port Authorities, the International Association of Firefighters, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the National Volunteer Fire Council, to improve land‑based firefighting departments’ marine vessel firefighting training and familiarity. To ensure that shoreside personnel are aware of what to do in the event of a fire on board a vessel, the NTSB recommended that Ports America and American Maritime Services develop policies for emergencies, including accounting for all employees.
The NTSB also recommended that RINA Services, the vessel classification society, revise its procedures for review and approval of vessel plans to ensure that fire boundary openings to spaces protected by fixed gas fire extinguishing systems can be closed from outside the protected space. The NTSB also recommended that the US Coast Guard submit a proposal to the International Maritime Organisation to clarify the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea regulation requiring that all openings capable of admitting air into or allowing gas to escape from a protected space can be closed from outside the protected space applies, regardless of their expected operational condition when in port or at sea.
The final report is expected to be published on the NTSB’s website in several weeks.