KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
A fire broke out aboard a tugboat called the Brian T. Wednesday afternoon as it was transiting near one of the piers in Kodiak’s boat harbor.
Frank Dorner is the fire chief for the City of Kodiak Fire Department, one of the responding agencies on scene yesterday.
“About 12:50 p.m. yesterday afternoon, we were toned out for a vessel at Pier 3, potentially on fire. Units responding were able to see that the vessel was actually not tied up at the pier, it was out in the channel,” Dorner stated.
Dorner said initially flames were visible from shore but were quickly extinguished. The fire appears to have started in the engine room but Dorner did not provide further details on how it started.
“[I’m] not going to go into a lot of details on that, but what I will say is [there was] not any real structural damage to the boat,” Dorner said. “And again I think the crew did an amazing job of following their policies and procedures in handling the situation as fast as they did.”
The Coast Guard 17th District in Kodiak was one of the other agencies that responded to the fire, but had minimal involvement.
The Brian T. is owned by Amak Towing Inc., based out of Ketchikan. A spokesperson for the company said they were aware of the incident with their vessel but had no further comment.
According to Matson Navigation Company, the tugboat is one of several that contracts with Matson to offer various tug services in the Kodiak area. A spokesperson with the company says the fire onboard the Brian T. will have negligible impact on Matson’s service in Kodiak.
None of the crew reported injuries to the Kodiak Fire Department and the fire was completely out by 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
