Fatal fire on the Grande Costa D’Avorio

A fire on board a passenger vehicle docked at Port Newark, New Jersey, led to the death of two land-based firefighters, injuries to six additional emergency responders, and damage estimated to total over $23 million.

As early details emerged of the fire on Grimaldi’s Grande Costa D’Avorioin Port Newark in 2023, following a spate of ro-ro fires originating from battery electric vehicles (BEVs) including the Felicity Ace near the Azores and the Höegh Xiamen in Florida, the public were primed to hear that New Jersey might be a similar case. But on this occasion, the problem originated from an engine-powered passenger car, jury-rigged as a work truck.

As stated in the accident report, “Safety issues identified… include hazards associated with using passenger vehicles as pusher vehicles in cargo operations.” In addition, this unfortunate incident – a culmination of both vessel and land-based issues – was the result of, “[The] absence of operating controls on the outside of a garage deck door that was part of a fire boundary zone for a space protected by a fixed gas fire extinguishing system, ineffective land-based firefighting response, and lack of emergency procedures for shoreside personnel.”

Tragically two firefighters lost their lives.

Retrofitting passenger cars

A 2008 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler was one of five civilian passenger vehicles Ports America had retrofitted with large sheet-metal push-bumpers and repurposed as ‘pushers’ to shunt non-running cars up ramps and aboard vessels.

It might not have been so unreasonable to assume that the Wrangler could be put to such a purpose, yet it was recalled a year after its release following several cases of “rigorous offroad conditions” causing a boil-over of transmission oil, which would subsequently cause the vehicle to catch fire. Despite this, it was still being used in 2023 when the Grande Costa D’Avorio incident occurred.

Workers operating the vehicle before the vessel fire testified that the ‘hot oil’ warning light would sometimes trigger during cargo-pushing operations, and that it was occasionally necessary to get ‘a running start’ to push heavier non-running vehicles up vessel loading ramps. The US’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) holds ‘powered industrial trucks’ (PITs) to more exacting standards, meaning the passenger vehicle was not suitable for use as a pusher in the first place.

On 5 July, after a day of car-pushing on the Grande Costa D’Avorio, a loud clunk was heard from the Wrangler after pushing a 1.8-tonne Toyota Venza up the stern ramp. After advancing up two much longer ramps to reach deck 10, the Wrangler was ablaze, and the fire had spread to the Toyota, its cargo. It is thought this was due to the transmission oil boiling over and catching fire on hot engine parts.

Crew initially attempted to put the fire out with portable extinguishers, followed by firehoses, but the blaze was beyond them. The captain attempted to smother the fire using the CO2 fire extinguishing system.

But two decks above, a hydraulic garage door was open, allowing the stern rampway to act as a funnel, directing heat out onto deck 12, the open top deck of the vessel. Unable to be sealed from the outside, the open door would require a crew member to run into the heat and smoke to activate the mechanism from the inside, effectively sealing themselves in. This was deemed unsafe by the captain, and the CO2 system was discharged.

Now fighting the fire beneath their feet, crew on deck 12 aimed hoses at the open hatch and hoped to stem the spread. But the funnel effect allowed the pressurised CO2 of the extinguishing system to escape, and the fire to continue burning, supported by plenty of automotive fuel.

Newark firefighters boarded soon after, and smoke was already filling the ship’s interior. The fire division had little specific training in marine firefighting, and they were not familiar with the ship’s fire control plan.

Firefighters advanced without a full understanding of the vessel’s layout or the risks of entering a CO2-flooded compartment; in the subsequent situation, two firefighters were lost and later found deceased. Six others were injured in the struggle.

The fire itself raged for days. External water cannons from tugboats and shore crews were eventually able to suppress it, but not before the vessel had sustained an estimated $23m of damage.

Safety recommendations

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the Jeep Wrangler should not have been pressed into service as a pusher, and the vessel’s fire boundaries should have been designed so that doors could be closed from the outside.

In addition, it found “most” of the first responders had not recently taken marine firefighting classes, stating: “Lack of marine vessel firefighting training left the land-based firefighters unprepared to respond to a vessel fire, resulting in an ineffective response that contributed to the fire's spread, vessel damage and led to the firefighters’ casualties.”

The NTSB issued a recommendation to inform all port authorities of the risks of using passenger trucks as pusher vehicles. It asked ports to assist their local fire departments to increase awareness and adopt basic vessel firefighter training among first responders.

They also recommended the ship’s owners, Grimaldi Deep Sea, modify their vessels so the openings can be closed from outside the protected space, while to help wider lessons being learned, advocated expanded policies for fires and emergencies on board vessels in US ports.

Image: car-carrying container ship Grande Costa D'Avorio on fire in the Port of Newark. Credit: Shutterstock.