Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
Copyright 2006 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
Three separate incidents involving boats on West Bank waterways kept the Coast Guard and firefighting crews busy Monday.
About 2:20 p.m., a 30-foot pleasure boat hit the Intracoastal Canal bridge outside Lafitte and caught fire, the Coast Guard said. No one was injured, but the damaged craft remained lodged between pilings, authorities said.
Coast Guard officials were notifying state Department of Transportation and Development officials to inspect the bridge. The state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries was handling the investigations.
The second incident was reported shortly before 2 p.m., when the engine room of the 105-foot Osh Kosh, a crew boat docked in the Harvey Canal, caught fire.
It took about 30 firefighters a little more than an hour to bring the blaze in the 800 block of Peters Road under control, said assistant chief Terry Thibodeaux of the Harvey Volunteer Fire Department. Crews used foam to fight the fire because of the intense heat, Thibodeaux said.
“We sent the crews down in the engine room and the heat was driving them back,” he said.
Crews from Harvey, Terrytown, David Crockett and Marrero-Harvey volunteer departments and West Jefferson Medical Center responded to the fire. Its cause is under investigation.
Earlier Monday, Coast Guard crews responded to reports of a collision between a tanker that struck a tugboat on the Mississippi River about 4:15 a.m., about 35 miles south of New Orleans, officials said.
Authorities said the Stolt Perserverance was traveling upriver when it lost steering and collided with the Jeck which was pushing a grain barge, said Coast Guard Petty Officer James Harless. The Jeck’s three crew members jumped into the river and swam to safety, he said.