Two Boat Fires

A fire on a boat is a topic that tripped my "twice in two days" rule.

Chickamauga Lock posted, cropped
We had a boat fire in the lock chamber this morning. No casualties. Thank you to everybody who responded. Safety is a team effort and Chattanooga has a great team. I’m especially proud of our lock operator Chase Green for his quick actions and textbook response. The lock is open and we are locking boats.
[Some comments indicated that this boat was a home and that the owner lost his animals and  everything he owned.
Notes on the lock]
Pickwick Lock shared

Dan Lisella commented on Chickamauga's post

HL Maritime Bulletin posted four photos with the comment:

#UPDATE: this afternoon the Nova Scotia- PEI ferry "MV HOLIDAY ISLAND" caught fire and ran aground just outside the Wood Islands harbour. 

Fire breaks out on ferry between Nova Scotia and P.E.l., July 22. All passengers evacuated without any injuries reported. 

The MV HOLIDAY ISLAND ferry was evacuated Friday afternoon after a fire broke out in the engine room earlier in the day. The ferry left port in Caribou, Nova Scotia, at 10 a.m. travelling to Wood Islands, P.E.l. The fire started just after 11 a.m. According to Northumberland Ferries Limited, which operates the ferry, the ship's crew and safety systems contained the fire.

The ferry ran aground outside the harbour entrance to Wood Islands.

Passengers were evacuated from the vessel via inflatable slides to get to the rafts below. All the passengers are off the boat and have been taken ashore. The coast guard remains on the scene.

According to Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Halifax, 182 passengers have safely

disembarked, while 18 crew members and seven local firefighters remain on board.

Janey Anderson shared

1

2

3

4

Initially I was confused because there are at least two Wood Islands Harbours. This is the first one I found. But when I followed the ferry route, I found this one. Note that this ferry route is labeled as part of the Trans-Canada Hwy. 

safe_image for P.E.I.-N.S. ferry cancelled for a 2nd day after fire aboard ship forced evacuation Friday [July 22, 2022]
Smoke was seen billowing from the N.S.-P.E.I. ferry on Friday. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

cbc
Passengers are loaded onto Myles MacDonald's fishing boat from the orange lifeboat structure deployed from the Holiday Island passenger deck. (Submitted by Brian Rogers)

"Myles MacDonald, an auxiliary Coast Guard member who also fishes crab and scallops out of Wood Islands, rushed to the scene in his boat when he heard the ferry had caught fire.

He pulled up alongside the Holiday Island as passengers hopped down an evacuation chute into a rubber dinghy. From there, they climbed onto his fishing boat.

'Everybody got along pretty good. It's a miracle,"' MacDonald said.

MacDonald made two trips to shore carrying a total of 113 of the 225 people he was told were on board.

Other rescue vessels, including the Coast Guard arrived to help transport the others. Their vehicles and luggage had to be left behind, though. "

[This article has a video taken from the ship.]

July 23, 2022: Canadian Coast Guard posted three photos with the comment: "UPDATE: Our Environmental Response continues. Several CCG vessels and officers are on site including the CCGS Cap Nord. We are working with our partners to ensure appropriate response to any potential release of pollution. So far there is no pollution reported from the vessel. Safety remains our priority."

Michael Gallant: The ship has no power. And by the looks of it, it’s developing a list. In order to get the vehicles off the ship needs power. To move ballast as the vehicles come off. So she doesn’t flip over. Until the fires out, they won’t move her. She could still flip over from the water used to put out the fire. It happens all the time in these situations. And ship fires have been known to last days.

[Michael added comments a day later indicating that the ferry was docked and that vehicles were being unloaded.]

Janey Anderson shared

1, cropped

2

3

Access to and from the island is still possible because of the Confederation Bridge.

An engine room fire gives a literal meaning to smokestack. Hopefully the smoke whet up the stack and stayed away from the vehicles and people's belongings. Some comments indicate that many of the passengers would have been families on vacation. They use the bridge for one leg of the trip and the ferry for the other leg. I wonder what happened to the pets.

A 9:14 video with some commentary  I was surprised that no other boats arrived during the video to be ready to relieve the lobster boat for carrying passengers.