FOLLOWUP: $1 million damage in Duwamish River barge fire

That’s a state Ecology Department photo, taken today, of the barge that burned on the east side of the Duwamish River last night (WSB coverage here). Ecology says the barge was boomed as a precaution but no oil sheen was detected, no “distressed wildlife,” just a “small amount of firefighting foam at tideline.” The U.S. Coast Guard lifted its half-mile “safety zone” early this morning. As for the fire, seen far and wide, we asked Seattle Fire for an update this afternoon:

(Tuesday night photo by Gustavo Arzola)

SFD spokesperson Kristin Tinsley replied that the fire was ruled “accidental” and damage is estimated at $1 million, adding: “Firefighters remained on scene until noon today to ensure the fire was extinguished.”

dsa June 27, 2018 (5:57 pm)

Did they say damage to what? Was onboard scrap metal vaporized? or did this fire spread inland?Incidentally did you hear where this load is/was headed?

Swede. June 27, 2018 (6:39 pm)

Since it was ‘crushed cars’ and at that location it was likely for being melted down by Nucor. There is a huge collection yard there for them and other recycling.
Ada June 27, 2018 (7:38 pm)

Probably damage to the barge and dock. Not just the load that caught fire.

Matthew Broehl June 27, 2018 (6:36 pm)

There is oil sheen down river in the slip by bio diesel and Samson I’m sure it’s from the barge fire as so much water was used to extinguish the flames.

Swede. June 27, 2018 (6:37 pm)

Thats a lot of money for “crushed cars”…Pretty interesting to how “crushed cars” could burn THAT much since they need to be empty of all fluids before being cruched. Oh well, someone had it insured right!

dsa June 27, 2018 (8:07 pm)

It seems like the scrapers whether it be Nucor or someone else benefited rather than lost anything. That is why I asked what the destination is and what got damaged. I remember during past times China taking old steel from our port even though Nucor or a previous owner processed scrap.

John Lloyd June 28, 2018 (9:42 am)

Smelled like burning plastic rather than oil or fuel.

22blades June 29, 2018 (7:23 am)

My car got totaled a couple of years ago and I got it crushed there. They were pretty careful and clear about removing fuel tanks and batteries. Probably was plastic, foam, rubber and whatever else caustic stuff is in a car. I am guessing they can’t even take Prius’s and Tesla’s because of the difficulty in removing the LiB’s. The now prominent batteries are really scary to deal with. I saw a foam mattress fire under the WSea bridge awhile back; WOW, it went off like Napalm and looked like Mt. St Helens.

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