A NY Waterway passenger ferry en route from Weehawken to Manhattan caught fire a week ago Friday and floated down the Hudson with flames licking up and smoke billowing in front of the skyline. The blaze caused severe damage to the vessel and forced five passengers to a local hospital to receive treatment, but all five were released soon after.
According to NY Waterway spokesman Pat Smith, the five patients – two passengers and the ship’s crew of three members – were taken to Palisades General Hospital in North Bergen, treated and released.
“There were eight passengers and three crew members aboard the ship,” Smith said. “After the fire was extinguished and the passengers were brought back to Lincoln Harbor, they were asked if they required medical attention and two of the passengers went to the hospital as a precaution. But they walked through the terminal and got into ambulances to be taken to the hospital.”
Added Smith, “The three crew members went to the hospital to undergo routine drug and alcohol tests that are required by the United States Coast Guard after any accident. The tests all came back negative.”
According to Smith, the fire began on the NY Waterway vessel Manhattan leaving Lincoln Harbor last Friday night at 7:05 p.m. The ship was bound for the West 38th Street port. The vessel captain noticed smoke coming from the engine compartment of the ship.
“Soon after, a deckhand examines it closely and realizes that there is a fire in the engine room,” Smith said. “The captain then immediately shut off all fuel lines and the vessel came to a halt.”
Apparently, the ferry had flames shooting from the sides of its windows and pedestrians on both sides of the Hudson River spotted the fire.
“The captain immediately radioed for help and within five minutes, another ferry arrived at the scene,” Smith said. “The passengers and crew stepped off the Manhattan and onto another boat, which matched up perfectly, from bow to bow, so that the passengers could just step right off.”
The New York Fire Department and the Coast Guard were called to the scene and the fire department’s floating firefighting vessels pushed the Manhattan to shore, where the fire was finally extinguished.
After the fire was put out, the Coast Guard towed the ship back to Weehawken for further investigation.
“Investigators determined that the fire was caused by faulty wiring in the engine room,” Smith said. “We don’t have damage estimates as of yet and we don’t know how long the ship will be out of service. The ship was inspected by the Coast Guard in July and was deemed as a very safe vessel.”
The Manhattan is an 87-foot passenger vessel that could hold as many as 250 passengers. Since the ship was en route to pick up passengers in New York, it only had eight passengers on it when the fire broke out.
“We’re glad that only eight passengers had to have that horrific experience,” Smith said. “And we were very fortunate that there were no injuries and that there were not more passengers on board. But even if there were, we were prepared. Within five minutes of the distress call, eight NY Waterway vessels were on the scene. Even if there had been more passengers, we would have been ready. But it was a very fortunate situation.”
Smith called the fire “the most serious incident” that has occurred since NY Waterway started its ferry service 14 years ago.
“No incident is minor and our goal is 100 percent safety, but sometimes, incidents do take place,” Smith said. “We’ve traveled 40,000,000 passenger miles, with 32,000 riders a day and 2,000 vessel movements a day. Something was bound to happen. Hopefully, we can go another 14 years before we have another incident.” Early television news reports and newspaper reports stated that both the fire was more severe than Smith reported and that damage to the ship was estimated at $400,000 to $500,000.
“Those reports are simply not true and I don’t know where that information came from,” Smith said. “I was in the newspaper reporting business for 20 years and I know you shouldn’t report something unless it’s substantiated. Well, no one ever spoke to me about the fire. We’re not belittling the incident, but it wasn’t as severe as what was reported.”