Grande Costa D’Avorio
The Grande Costa D’Avorio is an Italian freighter. She was built to simultaneously carry a deck cargo of Intermodal container and an internal cargo of automobiles or other road vehicles. She was launched in 2011. She survived a catastrophic fire, in Newark, New Jersey, on July 5, 2023.[1][2][3]
The vessel is owned by the Grimaldi Group, Italy's largest shipping firm.[4]
The US Coast Guard reported it took five days to finally extinguish the fire.[3] Commentators described how, with a fire this hot, firefighters could not fight the fire directly, and the best approach was to keep the vessel under a constant bombardment of water, in an attempt to cool the blaze. Firefighters directed so much water to the vessel it developed a list, and pumps had to be deployed to pump out that water.
Initial reports stated the vessel's crew had deployed its fire-suppression system prior to the arrival of Newark firefighters.[3] However, after an official inquiry, accident investigators concluded the vessel's crew did not know how to properly use the fire-suppression system.[1]
Investigators determined that the fire aboard the vessel was started by stevedores use of an improperly maintained Jeep they were using to push a vehicle they were loading.[1] The Jeep was known to have a problem with over-heating, and the Jeep burst in to flame on the day of the fire.
Newark firefighters found the Grande Costa D'Avorio's fire-suppression system was not equipped with fittings for their 2.5 inch (6.35 cm) firehoses.[4] They were forced to use the vessel's much less powerful 1 inch (2.54 cm) firehoses.
Since neither of Newark's fireboats was working on the day of the fire Newark firefighter boarded the vessel to fight the fire. Two of the Newark Fire Department's fire captains, Wayne Brooks Jr. and Augusto Acabou, died after boarding the freighter.[2] Another five fire fighters were wounded. Fireboats from New York City came to assistance on their own initiative, to fight the fire.[1] No official request had been made. It was New York City firefighters who located the bodies of the Newark firefighters.
Vehicles carried by roll-on roll-off vessels are usually driven on-board and off-board under their own power, and it was the gasoline the vehicles were powered by that provided the fuel for the blaze.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Wayne Parry. Union, kin of firefighters killed in cargo ship blaze call for new Newark fire department leadership, Washington Post, 2024-01-17. Retrieved on 2024-01-18. “And Jackson testified that on the day of the fire, both of Newark’s fire boats were in working condition and able to be deployed, only to be contradicted by the head of a fire boat task force who testified that both of Newark’s boats were not in service that day. In fact, one had not been fit for duty for at least a year, said Francis Gorman, head of the New Jersey Regional Fireboat Task Force.”
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 ‘Deaths were preventable,’ say anguished family members of 2 firefighters lost in Port Newark fire, NJ.com, 2024-01-17. Retrieved on 2024-01-18.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 New allegations regarding cause of Grande Costa d’Avorio fire, Professional Mariner. Retrieved on 2024-01-18. “Five days after the fire broke out, the Coast Guard announced that the fire aboard the Grande Costa d’Avorio was out.”
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Tracey Tully, Mike Ives, Elise Young. How 2 Firefighters Died in a Blaze They Were Ill-Equipped to Face, New York Times, 2023-07-06, p. A10. Retrieved on 2024-01-18. “Firefighters who raced to the scene from Engine 16 quickly learned that their standard, 2.5-inch hose lines would not connect to the equipment on the European-built ship, the Grande Costa d’Avorio. They were forced to use the vessel’s one-inch firefighting hoses, Newark’s mayor, Ras J. Baraka, would later explain.”
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