Local News

Seattle firefighters put out a small electrical fire on a 40-foot fishing trawler tied up to a dock at Fishermen’s Terminal just before 11 p.m. tonight, according to department spokesman Kyle Moore.

A caller told dispatchers smoke was coming from the boat’s engine, Moore said, but it wasn’t clear whether the boat had been running or why it caught fire.  A neighboring boat owner contained the fire with a garden hose until firefighters arrived, a fire department tweet said. Responding crews fully doused the flames in about 15 minutes, Moore said.

No injuries have been reported, and the boat reportedly had minor damage.

The Associated Press

Fire has damaged the 167-foot Bristol Leader fishing ship moored at Pier 91 in Seattle.

Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore says smoke was reported coming from the galley about 3 a.m. Tuesday, and about two dozen crew members got out safely.

Moore says firefighters quickly controlled the fire, but it took them a while to completely put it out because it was burning in a bulkhead behind a commercial stove.

Moore says the ship’s home port is Kodiak, Alaska, and it was supposed to depart Tuesday.

The website for Lynden-based Alaskan Leader Fisheries says the Bristol Leader is the largest longliner built in the United States, and it has been one of the top producers in the Bering Sea. It catches fish on baited lines and processes fish on board.

UPDATE 10:00 P.M.| Good Samaritan vessels helped evacuate 78 crew members from Arctic Storm Monday evening, while another 42 crew members are staying aboard to man the fishing boat, according to the Coast Guard. The evacuated crew members are being taken to Westport, Wash. by commercial fishing boats Northern Voyager, Golden Alaska, Sea Dawn and Excellence.

A tug boat is still en-route to tow the Arctic Storm vessel, which contains about 188,000 gallons of diesel fuel, to Aberdeen, the Coast Guard said. No pollution has been reported to be released into the ocean. The Coast Guard says it will continue to investigate the cause of the fire.

UPDATE 5:02 P.M.| The Coast Guard says the fire hasn’t injured anyone and is under control. The fishing boat crew was able to get the fire under control before Coast Guard teams arrived by using a chemical firefighting system, according to Coast Guard spokesman Nathan Littlejohn.

Littlejohn said it doesn’t look like the Arctic Storm is going to sink, but its 120-member crew will soon be transferred to a sister vessel. The Arctic Storm will be towed to Aberdeen.

The Arctic Storm is operated by Seattle-based Arctic Storm Management Group. The company’s website says its crews fish for Pacific Whiting off the coast of Washington and Oregon from the end of May through early June.

EARLIER POST

The Coast Guard is on its way to rescue about 120 people on a fishing boat burning 32 miles west of Grays Harbor.

Crew on the 314-foot Arctic Storm vessel reported an uncontrollable engine room fire at about 3:20 p.m., according to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has sent out rescue teams in two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters from Air Station Astoria and three 47-foot motor lifeboats.

The Coast Guard has issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast to alert other boaters in the area of the Arctic Storm.

We’ll update this as more information becomes available.

The Associated Press

A crew member on a Seattle-based fishing boat had to be airlifted off his boat in the Bering Sea Friday after suffering a major electrical shock and heart complications.

The ship was about 172 miles northwest of Dillingham, Alaska, when it called for help from the Coast Guard. The 43-year-old man, whose name was not released in a U.S. Coast Guard press release, was working on the electrical switchboard of the Cape Horn, a 145-foot fishing boat. He suffered a 480-volt shock.

A helicopter hoisted the man off the fishing vessel early Friday afternoon and flew him to Dillingham, where his condition is unknown.

Two cranes work to lift the sunken 140-foot fishing boat out of Penn Cove off Whidbey Island Sunday (Photo by Erika Schultz/ The Seattle Times).

Updated 3:46 p.m.

From Staff Reporter Jayme Fraser:

COUPEVILLE, Whidbey Island — A derelict fishing boat that sank in Penn Cove off Whidbey Island last month was raised to the surface today, a promising development for the island’s world-famous mussel beds, which have been shut down since the boat caught fire and went down.

At about 1:20 p.m., residents on a bluff overlooking the recovery site saw the first part of the stern rise out of the water. The righting and raising of the boat, the task of lifting it out of deep silt — and weeks spent figuring out how to do it – became a bit of an event around here.

A dozen or so people in lawn chairs and sharing binoculars cheering and starting to call family to tell them the news.

Robin Llewelyn was the first to shout out, “It’s up! ”

With the help of a large crane from Seattle, a joint state and federal recovery effort managed, after about 8:30 a.m. today, to right the boat, which had been lying on its side in 25 feet of silt.

The crew then re-rigged a series of chains that run under the boat and are attached to its bow so its decks could be lifted to water level. At 11:30 a.m., members of the recovery team grinned when they learned it was off the bottom and being lifted slowly the 60 feet to the surface.

The Deep Sea sank shortly after it caught fire May 12 and diesel leaks from its tanks have closed both commercial and recreational shellfish harvesting in the area. Washington’s Department of Fish & Wildlife lists Penn Cove as the third most popular shellfish beach in the Puget Sound.

Jared Davids from the state Department of Health said this morning that if all goes as planned today — the ship is successfully raised and contained and no oil sheen is seen in harvesting area – chemical and taste tests could begin as early as Monday. That could mean the area could be reopened as soon as Tuesday morning, Davids said.

This 128-foot crab boat anchored off Whidbey Island burned and sank Sunday after being engulfed in flames late Saturday night. Officials with the nearby Penn Cover shellfish farm say they suspended harvest to confirm the safety of its products. (Photo by Jennifer Muzzall)

The Associated Press

UPDATE: 2:35 p.m. | WHIDBEY ISLAND — The PennCove Shellfish company has suspended harvests at Whidbey Island while clean-up crews stop a diesel sheen coming from a derelict vessel that burned and sank.

Penn Cove general manager Ian Jefferds says the harvest is suspended Monday to confirm the safety of its products. He says customers are being supplied from company shellfish beds at Quilcene.

State Health Department shellfish growing area manager Bob Woolrich says there’s no evidence of oil at the Whidbey shellfish beds. The state did not shut down operations; the owner did it as a precaution.

Jefferds says the company “dodged a bullet” and expects to soon resume harvests at Penn Cove.

The 128-foot derelict fishing boat caught fire Saturday and sank Sunday.

The state Ecology Department is overseeing the cleanup

Earlier post: The boat sunk around 6 p.m. 100 yards off the shoreline, said command duty officer Eric Cookson of the Coast Guard. Booms have been placed around the site, and salvage divers will go down to the boat tomorrow plug fuel vents and seal fuel tanks. State officials have suspended mussel harvesting in Whidbey Island’s Penn Cove until further notice, as a precaution.

A 128-foot boat anchored off Whidbey Island was still burning Sunday morning, after being totally engulfed in flames late Saturday night. Coast Guard and Island County responders continued to fight the blaze, said Coast Guard Ensign Nathan Clinger. There were no reports of injuries, and no indication anyone was onboard.

The fire was reported at 11:45 p.m. Saturday by a 911 call, Clinger said. The Deep Sea, a  fishing vessel that hasn’t been used in at least seven years, was in Penn Cove, on the island’s east side.

At one point, Island County firefighters stopped pouring water on the vessel, for fear it might sink.

An 87-foot Coast Guard vessel was on hand Sunday, helping to fight the fire, Clinger said. Responders also are standing by in case of fuel or chemical spills.  Officials have talked to the vessel’s owner.

The operator of a fishing boat apparently fell asleep at the helm and grounded the boat near Neah Bay early today, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The 37-foot boat eventually hit Chibahdehl Rocks, about four miles west of Neah Bay.

The Coast Guard sent a lifeboat crew and a helicopter to rescue the fishermen after a report that the boat was taking on water about 3:35 a.m., the Coast Guard said.

The lifeboat, however, wasn’t able to pull along side the grounded fishing boat because the water was too shallow, so the fishermen had to swim to the rescue boat where they were safely pulled from the water. They were brought to shore, treated and released.

The fishing boat will be salvaged when the weather permits.

Associated Press

ANCHORAGE – The Coast Guard says a Seattle fisherman on board a commercial fishing vessel was killed in an apparent industrial accident south of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

Alaska State Troopers on Monday identified the man as 25-year-old Andrew Fotu.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Charly Hengen says the captain of the 238-foot Alaska Juris reported Fotu was injured Thursday when a cable snapped and struck him in the head.

Two Coast Guard helicopters from St. Paul Island flew south after the report and refueled in Unalaska. The helicopters reached the Alaska Juris about 250 miles southwest of Unalaska. A rescue swimmer was lowered to the vessel and determined that the crewman had died.

The Alaska Juris reached Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island early Friday afternoon.