Response Continues for Kodiak Enterprise Fire in Tacoma

Firefighting and salvager crews are continuing their response to the fire aboard the fishing vessel Kodiak Enterprise in Tacoma’s Hylebos Waterway.

According to officials, crews are currently accessing interior spaces to extinguish hot spots and look for standing water.

In the coming days, responders will ensure that the vessel is safe for investigators to board and for salvage work to proceed, including the removal of the reported 55,000 gallons of diesel onboard. The Coast Guard and NTSB will conduct an investigation into the cause of the fire.

The fire on the Kodiak Enterprise started early Saturday morning as the vessel was docked at Trident Seafoods in the Hylebos Waterway in Tacoma, Washington. The fire appears to have started in the forward portion of the 276-foot ship and later spread through entirety of the vessel, prompting fears of damage to the vessel’s freon tanks.

Although the smoke coming from the vessel has decreased, air monitoring has continued as a precaution. Particulate levels at the incident site and in nearby neighborhoods have not shown levels of concern.

Dewatering operations are ongoing in order to improve stability as firefighters continue to apply water to the outside of the vessel to cool the hull.

The vessel is currently surrounded by three layers of containment boom, and responders and equipment are staged and ready to respond if pollution is observed in the waterway. Vessels can request to transit the safety zone established on the Hylebos Waterway, and commercial traffic should contact Seattle Traffic on VHF-14.

The Unified Command for the incident is composed of several agencies, including the Tacoma Fire Department, U.S. Coast Guard, Washington Department of Ecology, Trident Seafoods, and Puyallup Tribe of Indians, with support from several other agencies.