On Saturday 8th Apr, a fire broke out aboard a Trident Seafood’s factory trawler at Tacoma’s Tideflats Port Facility, burning through the deckhouse and the wheelhouse. It is the second major fire aboard a Trident vessel in Tacoma since 2021.
As informed, the Tacoma Fire Department, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Washington Department of Ecology and other agencies are continuing their response to the fishing vessel, Kodiak Enterprise.
The fire has progressed throughout the ship and was last reported approximately 100 feet from the vessel’s freon tanks. The vessel is reported to have an estimated 55,000 gallons of diesel and 19,000 pounds of freon onboard. The heat from the fire can cause pressure to build in the freon tanks.
As explained, the freon tanks are designed with built-in heat-activated pressure relief valves which are designed to release the freon tanks’ pressure in an emergency situation. While freon can be toxic if inhaled in large quantities or in a confined space, the release of freon into the atmosphere is not expected to pose any health and safety risks to the public.
The safety of the public and responders is our top priority. The unified command is working closely to leverage each agency’s capabilities to respond to this incident as effectively as possible and keep the public safe.
….said Coast Guard Capt. Youngmee Moon, the Federal On Scene Coordinator.
However, there are no reported signs of maritime pollution. As a preventive measure, responders have deployed 3 layers of containment boom around the vessel to protect the marine environment. As a precautionary measure the unified command has deployed 3 skimmers and 3 boom boats.
We want to thank everyone for their prompt response and support. This has been a challenging containment issue and we appreciate the ongoing efforts over this Easter weekend.
..said Joe Bundrant, CEO of Trident Seafoods.
