Laura McKnight
NOLA Media Group, New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans firefighter and two contract workers suffered smoke inhalation in a two-alarm blaze aboard a ship docked on the Mississippi River Friday (May 31), according to fire officials.
The fire, likely sparked by welding work, began about 4:22 p.m. on the Cape Knox, a Merchant Marine ship docked at the Poland Avenue Wharf in the Bywater.
Firefighters arrived within five minutes to find a “smoldering fire” below deck, inside a roughly 100-square-foot container filled with diesel fuel sludge near the ship’s engine room, according to the New Orleans Fire Department.
Firefighters requested a second alarm at 5:03 p.m. as they experienced “extreme difficulty” in reaching the blaze, NOFD officials said. Firefighters were forced to remove gear and crawl one by one through a small access space to reach the fire—and once there, had just minutes to work before their air tanks were depleted.
More than 40 firefighters in 16 fire vehicles brought the blaze under control by 7 p.m., the NOFD said in a news release.
The injured firefighter was taken to a local hospital for observation. The two contractors, injured while trying to extinguish the fire before the NOFD arrived, were treated at the scene by paramedics.
Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.
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