A fire broke out on a cargo ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles on Friday, prompting the evacuation of its crew and a major firefighting response.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said that an electrical fire began around 6:38 p.m. local time on a lower deck of the 1 Henry Hudson, a container ship. Then, at 7:58 p.m., “an explosion was noted mid-deck that has affected power including lights and crane operations on the ship,” the fire department said.
No injuries were reported and all 23 crew members had been evacuated from the ship, it said.
“Everybody has been accounted for,” said Capt. Adam Van Gerpen of the fire department. “It looks like it’s isolated to the cargo ship.”
All responders were wearing special breathing equipment because, according to the ship’s manifest, there were hazardous materials in the cargo holds affected by the blaze, the fire department said. The authorities said they were also monitoring the air quality around the ship.
More than 100 firefighters were working to suppress the fire, Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles said. “Marine units are cooling the outside of the ship to make conditions onboard more tenable,” the fire department said.
Livestreams by local broadcasters showed a smaller boat spraying water on the hull and dark smoke rising from a section of the ship where cargo containers were stacked.
The ship’s management company, Fukujin Kisen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the online tracker Vessel Finder, the ship was built in 2008 and had just arrived from Tokyo.
Shawn Hubler is The Times’s Los Angeles bureau chief, reporting on the news, trends and personalities of Southern California.
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