Marine Firewatch

[Drip_Torch]

The Zim Kingston, which dropped the containers off the coast is on fire. Live cam below.

https://mail.bigwavedave.ca/dallas-road.html

In the immediate area is the Cape Naden, Cape Calvert, Firebrand YTR 562 and a slightly lesser identified "special tug".

Don't know how much they can do at this point.

.

[Urban Cowboy]

Seems to be burning pretty good even with the crappy camera picture.

Certainly not a good place to sink in the middle of a shipping lane should it come to that.

Would think they'd have a fire boat hosing it down but don't see anything.

[Drip_Torch]

The Canadian Navy has had a fire boat there, standing by with the Coast Guard vessels, for the last few hours. The Coast Guard also had a couple aircraft doing tight circles over it for quite a while.

This is the Firebrand, fireboat...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/agged/17156968129/

Must be something on board slowing them down. I know for the last hour, or so, they've been moving things well away, and the advisory for air traffic coming into the harbour is "stay well clear of the vessel on fire".

[Urban Cowboy]

Thanks.

Fire seems to be increasing.

[GordonH]

The Canadian Navy has had a fire boat there, standing by with the Coast Guard vessels, for the last few hours. The Coast Guard also had a couple aircraft doing tight circles over it for quite a while.

This is the Firebrand, fireboat...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/agged/17156968129/

Must be something on board slowing them down.

Port Angeles more then likely has also offered support, +/- 30 Kms away.

[Drip_Torch]

It looks like the Cape Calvert has pulled along side the vessel. They might be removing some crew.

A 1 km exclusion zone is now in place.

Another view of the smoke from Harling Point.

https://namroc.com/live/

[Drip_Torch]

Yep, abandon ship. The captain isn't happy about it.

Here's the CCG broadcast and dialogue.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1452062079171633152

[Urban Cowboy]

It looks like the Cape Calvert has pulled along side the vessel. They might be removing some crew.

A 1 km exclusion zone is now in place.

Another view of the smoke from Harling Point.

https://namroc.com/live/

According to Global News the delay is due to two containers of hazardous goods.

A fire has broken out aboard the MV Zim Kingston, two days after an estimated 35-40 containers broke free during rough weather west of Vancouver Island. The Canadian Coast Guard said the fire is related to two containers filled with hazardous material.

Officials say the crew of a cargo ship anchored near Victoria that caught fire Saturday morning may need to be evacuated.
Flames broke out on the MV Zim Kingston around 11 a.m., and was related to two damaged containers carrying hazardous materials. It is the same vessel that lost an estimated 35-40 cargo containers in rough seas west of Vancouver Island on Thursday.

The exact contents of the containers was not yet clear.

A spokesperson for Maritime Forces Pacific said the vessel’s crew had been trying to fight the fire, but were unable to do so.

As of 5 p.m., the crew had mustered near the vessel’s lifeboats, but that the ship’s master had not yet given the call to abandon ship.

[Drip_Torch]

Yep, not using water on the fire due to the hazardous cargo.

At least 6 containers on fire, but it looks like more now. The crew has been evacuated and the exclusion zone has been extended to 1 nautical mile. There's some plan in place to deal with the fire, but those ships are still on the way.

The Captain Goddard is joining the effort from Vancouver. Looks to be a few minutes out still.

[GordonH]

Well, just another wrinkle in the supply chain issues.

[Drip_Torch]

The Captain is asking to remove the rest of the crew. "4 to 5 persons more". CCG Cape Naden appears to be pulling along side right now. Canadian Coast Guard has told @CHEK_News the #ZimKingston has 52,080 kilograms of "hazardous material" onboard.

Things are not looking good at the moment.

[GordonH]

The Captain is asking to remove the rest of the crew. "4 to 5 persons more". CCG Cape Naden appears to be pulling along side right now. Canadian Coast Guard has told @CHEK_News the #ZimKingston has 52,080 kilograms of "hazardous material" onboard.

Things are not looking good at the moment.

Not at all, being a container ship not easy to fight a fire on it.

[Drip_Torch]

Well, just another wrinkle in the supply chain issues.

Yep, no Christmas stockings filled with Potassium Amyl Xanthate this year. Probably not a bad thing though. It's kind of dangerous if it catches fire...

Flammability Class (WHMIS): B-6: Reactive Flammable Material
Thermal decomposition products are toxic and may include Carbon Disulphide, Potassium sulphide,
carbonyl sulphide, Amyl Alcohols, oxides of carbon, sulphur, potassium and irritating gases.

This product may be capable of forming flammable dust clouds in air. Avoid accumulation and dispersion
of dust to reduce explosion potential. Spilled material may cause floors and contact surfaces to become
slippery. Heating of solid xanthate or aging or heating of solutions will cause formation of Carbon
Bisulfide. Upon exposure of solid xanthates to moisture and/or heat, decomposition results and
spontaneous combustion can occur. Contact of solid xanthate with moist air has resulted in ignition. (4)
Vapours from this product are heavier than air, and may "travel" to a source of ignition (eg. pilot lights,
heaters, electric motors) some distance away, and then "flash back to the ignition point.

I imagine *if* that were to happen it might look something like this...

.

Which is what happened just before the Captain called CCG back and said I changed my mind... come back and get more crew. Or something like that. The captain and four crew remain onboard. The Seaspan Raven is along side the ship cooling it with water.

I see why they got rid of the fireboat.

Use carbon dioxide or dry chemical media for small fires. If only water is available, use it in the form of a
fog. Cool containers with flooding quantities of water until well after the fire is out. Exposure to heat and
moisture may cause the decomposition of xanthates to release flammable, explosive and poisonous
Carbon Bisulphide vapours

I'll be posting on the "nice weather" thread tomorrow - with the record breaking storm coming into the area.

All in all... a bad situation.

[OKkayak]

At least it didn't happen off the German coastline:

[seewood]

^^^ one of my most favorite adds.

If a compromised can gets hot enough, I suspect the contents of the can next door may have the contents on fire, and on it goes.

Regardless, going to be a wake up call if the post mortem revels BC does not have the capacity to fight a ship board fire effectively.