Crews removing water, chemicals from Tacoma fishing boat before investigating cause of fire

TACOMA, Wash. — Days after the Kodiak Enterprise’s fire finally was put out, it has moved to what officials call the recovery phase.

Crews extinguished the last of the fires Friday but investigators who will look for the cause still aren’t able to set foot on the boat.

Officials said a few things need to happen first, like the removal of the gas, oil, and water still on the vessel.

“Right now, the biggest priority is dewatering the vessel to right it, " said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier.

The 276-foot Kodiak Enterprise still lists to one side. It’s because of the water poured into the boat to put out the flames. Getting that water and other potentially damaging chemicals off the boat is the new priority.

“The biggest pollutant we have on board right now is a couple thousand gallons of diesel fuel. There’s some oil on board as well,” explained Strohmaier.  He added, “Right now they’re estimating over 40,000 gallons with the fuel or oil on board.”

Strohmaier said for anyone who’s seen someone syphon gas from a car, that’s basically what they’re doing, just on a bigger scale — but this is an even more delicate process.

“Thankfully the vessel is right next to the pier, so we were able to use vacuum trucks that can hook right up to the vessel and suck all that fuel off into a storage tank,” said Strohmaier. “It just takes some time. We obviously want to make sure that it’s done in a safe manner. That’s why we still have vessels out there to respond on the waterway in case something does go wrong.”

Officials said during the fire, 19,000 pounds of freon leaked into the air, but that isn’t a concern. Booms still surround the Trident Seafoods-owned vessel, in case there’s a spill or leak of the oil and gas still on board. Once the oil, gas, and water are all off the boat, investigators can get on.

“We’re trying to do this within the next couple of days to get this all pumped off and then have those investigators come on board and take a walkthrough, inspect the different compartments to see where this fire started and how it spread,” explained Strohmaier.

Since the Kodiak Enterprise caught fire while moored, officials expect they’ll be able to tow the boat away. Trident Seafoods did not respond to a request for comment.

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