Fire breaks out on ship carrying lithium-ion batteries

Authorities on Saturday continued to assess how to fight a fire that broke out two days ago aboard a cargo ship that is carrying nearly 2,000 tons of lithiumion batteries and was ordered to remain off the Alaskan coast.

The U.S. Coast Guard said there were no injuries to the 19 crew members aboard the vessel, Genius Star XI, and that it remained seaworthy.

The exact cause of the fire was not known and remains under investigation. The Coast Guard was not immediately able to confirm who owns the vessel or say what other cargo it is carrying. The ship’s point of origin and destination were unavailable.

The fire broke out in cargo holds where lithium-ion batteries, which contain highly flammable materials, were being stored.

“These are very hot, very energetic fires,” said Richard Burke, a professor of naval architecture and marine engineering at the State University of New York Maritime College. Such fires can be long-lasting and difficult to put out, he added.

The Coast Guard ordered the vessel to remain 2 miles offshore from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and officials established a 1-mile safety zone around the vessel for the duration of the response effort.

A fire occurred in two separate cargo holds, said Lt. Cmdr. Michael Salerno, a spokesperson for the 17th Coast Guard District, which covers 47,300 miles of shoreline throughout Alaska and the Arctic.

Firefighting systems on the vessel extinguished one of the fires. Members of the crew sealed off the other cargo hold and were taking temperature readings, which were normal as of Saturday, Salerno said.

There were no signs of heat damage outside the cargo hold, and authorities plan to monitor the temperature to see whether it continues to go down.

A team of marine firefighting experts who boarded the ship Thursday to assess its condition found no signs of structural deformation or blistering outside the compartment, the Coast Guard said.

That the ship is still intact and afloat is good news for the environment, Burke said.

These ships can carry hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo, such as silk blouses, beer, laptops and other commercial goods, which could potentially contaminate the ocean if the ship were to sink.

“The ship also has fuel,” Burke said. “If you lose the ship, the fuel goes into the sea as well.”

Jake Piseno / Provided

Brent Warzocha/University at Albany

UAlbany midfielder Paisley Cook in a lacrosse game against Niagara University on Oct. 14. Cook also plays for the Haudenosaunee Nationals, an international team vying to play in the Olympics.

At left, center, Jake Piseno, a 22-year-old long-stick midfield player for the Haudenosaunee Nationals, hopes to play in the 2028 Olympics now that lacrosse has been added. But the team still needs its nation to be recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Below, Paisley Cook, 18, plays women’s lacrosse for both the University at Albany and the Haudenosaunee Nationals.