The Port of Los Angeles is open for business Saturday morning as firefighters continue to subdue an electrical fire that started below deck of the container ship One Henry Hudson and prompted a major emergency response.
The fire was reported shortly after 6:30 p.m. Friday with 124 Los Angeles Fire Department personnel responding, including those from Heavy Rescue, HazMat, Urban Search and Rescue, Fire Boats and Air Operations units, according to the department’s Lyndsey Lantz.
Personnel from the Long Beach Fire Department, U.S. Coast Guard and Port Police also assisted.
Fire was visible on several levels of the 1,100-foot vessel as LAFD crews worked to confirm all 23 crew members were accounted for and safely off the ship while identifying the fire’s source and working to contain it.
Port Police and Customs personnel helped with getting crew members off the ship, Lantz said.
At 7:58 p.m., an explosion was reported mid-deck, disrupting power to the ship, including lighting and crane operations. By 8:27 p.m., the final five crew members were assisted off the vessel, and all crew were accounted for, according to Lantz.
Due to the fire at the port, the California Highway Patrol issued a Sigalert for the closure of all lanes of the Seaside (47) Freeway between Gaffney Street and Ocean Boulevard in San Pedro for an unknown duration.
“A waterside safety zone around the ship has been established and the state Route 47 has been closed due to smoke and visibility concerns,” according to a statement from the Port of Los Angeles. “No injuries have been reported and all crew members are accounted for.”
LAFD HazMat teams monitored air quality as suppression efforts continued in the ship’s sub-levels, where access remained difficult. A shelter-in-place order was issued north of Point Fermin, between South Western Avenue and state Route 103 for both San Pedro and nearby Wilmington, the LAFD reported.
“If you can smell it, you’re going to want to stay indoors,” LAFD Captain Adam Van Gerpen said.
The shelter-in-place order was lifted Saturday morning.
“We had a very large response to this. Our firefighters worked throughout the night. They were here until approximately 4 a.m. when they finally moved the ship out into open water,” Van Gerpen told KTLA5.
Van Gerpen said fire crews had reports that at least 40 containers caught fire and that number might have risen to 100 after the blast. Six crew members who had been evacuated from the ship returned to assist firefighters navigating the lower compartments, he added.
The presence of hazardous materials in some of the containers presented an added danger for firefighters and the public.
“This is very rare that a ship catches on fire and we have to remove it out of the port, but we wanted to have it safe for the residents of Wilmington and San Pedro,” Van Gerpen said.
Four of the port’s seven container terminals suspended operations after the fire, but they had reopened by Saturday morning, the captain added.
ABC7 reported the ship was moved out to sea overnight as firefighters continue to try to get control of the fire. LAFD reported they have been unable to access roughly 40 burning containers as of Saturday morning.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
The ship recently arrived from Tokyo, according to Fox11.
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