The electrical fire first sparked late Friday on the lower decks of a hulking container ship docked in the Port of Los Angeles. Within hours, flames had torn through dozens of shipping containers and threatened to consume hazardous materials aboard, prompting a shelter-in-place order for the neighborhoods surrounding the country’s busiest seaport.
By this morning, the burning ship — the ONE Henry Hudson — had been moved farther offshore, past the port’s breakwater, according to Adam VanGerpen, a fire captain and spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department. All 23 crew members were safely evacuated, with no injuries reported.
The shelter-in-place order had also been lifted.
The Port of Los Angeles said that the fire had been “substantially contained” by midday today. But fire boats continued to hose down the ship’s hull, and with the blaze raging deep within several layers of cargo containers, it was unclear how long it would take to fully extinguish the flames.
“We don’t know how long it’s gonna take for the fire to be out,” VanGerpen said.
Tim McOsker, a Los Angeles council member who represents the neighborhoods around the port, said authorities will work over the coming days to eliminate the fire, salvage the ONE Henry Hudson’s cargo, and bring the ship back to port for a full examination.
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Authorities initially estimated that the fire had consumed 40 containers aboard the ONE Henry Hudson, VanGerpen said. That estimate has risen to as many as 100, he said. The emergency response drew more than 180 firefighters who fought the blaze through the night.
The LAFD said that the fire began around 6:30 p.m. Pacific time Friday. Just before 8 p.m., the department reported a mid-deck explosion that affected power on the ship. Livestreams from local broadcasters showed plumes of smoke curling around stacks of shipping containers rising from its deck.
By around midnight, the department had ordered all firefighters off the vessel and told residents to shelter in place to avoid potentially toxic smoke, citing hazardous materials listed in the ship’s manifest.
A map posted by the department showed the order covering communities around the port including San Pedro and Wilmington.
“Get inside IMMEDIATELY and close all windows and doors. Turn off air conditioning/heating. Bring all people and pets to an inside room until you receive more instructions,” the Fire Department said in an alert, citing a “Hazmat” incident related to the fire on the ship.
The nature of those hazardous materials and which of them, if any, had burned wasn’t immediately clear by the time authorities lifted the shelter-in-place order this morning, VanGerpen said.
McOsker, who was on scene as the ship burned at port, said he received calls from friends and residents across his district and beyond who smelled the fire.
Drones were deployed at the site to monitor air quality, he said, and early indications showed the smoke was not exceptionally toxic.
“We will get a full after-action report, and we will find out precisely what the workers, the firefighters and the community was exposed to,” McOsker said.
The Port of Los Angeles said in a statement Friday that a safety zone had been established around the ship, and that four of its seven cargo terminals had suspended operations. By today, it said that port operations had resumed as normal and work restrictions on the affected terminals had been lifted.
The port also said that the Vincent Thomas Bridge to the port, which the California Highway Patrol had briefly closed at the request of LAFD, had been reopened.
VanGerpen said fire boats would continue to tend to the ONE Henry Hudson until this afternoon, when a salvage crew was scheduled to arrive.
The ship’s management company, Fukujin Kisen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the online tracker Vessel Finder, the ship was built in 2008 and had just arrived from Tokyo.
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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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