A blaze onboard a cargo ship at Aberdeen’s South Harbour was so complex it took more than 150 firefighters to extinguish, The Press and Journal can reveal.
The blaze, in the hold of the Lowlands Diamond, burned for 11 days and also involved the coordination efforts of both the Scottish and UK governments.
Incredibly, the fire was put out without injury or major damage – and with most of the 7,000-tonne cargo of wood remaining unscathed.
We were granted unique access to learn how – even before the firefighting began – scores of teams from across the region spent EIGHT DAYS planning how to tackle it.
We spoke to Andrew Wright, Aberdeen area commander from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, who described the incident as “complex” and “unusual”.
He added: “We had to get the planning right as one of the key concerns was the fire might spread quite significantly.”
The fire began eight days before it was tackled
The Lowlands Diamond cargo ship was sailing from Denmark to the north of England when a major fire broke out on January 19.
Sailors on board the Panama-registered carrier noticed a dramatic rise in a temperature sensor in Hold Two.
That is the equivalent weight of more than 1,000 African elephants.
The crew alerted the UK Coastguard – and a conversation began among the UK and Scottish governments about where would be best to fight the fire.
Mr Wright said: “We were notified the vessel was anchored off the north coast of England while it was waiting for a direction of what port to go into.”
“There was discussion among the port authority, the Scottish Government and others.
“They were looking at where’s the best place to dock the vessel and then deal with the incident.”
Out of all UK ports, here’s why Aberdeen was chosen
It is understood the authorities chose South Harbour as it has lots of space, a freshwater tank and no other boats nearby.
Even though the Lowlands Diamond had to travel 100 miles north to get there, operation chiefs weighed up that was the safest option.
From the January 19 onwards, the fire was burning in the hold on the ship, but there was no danger to the crew so long as the hold door was shut.
Mr Wright said: “The decision might have been different if the port had been busier of it were a different time of year.
“If there had been different weather conditions, it could have been a completely different situation and we might have had to the close off the port.
“We might have had to make cruise ships leave, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case in January.”
There were two multi-agency planning meetings to set everything up
Mr Wright said: “We had to weigh up all safety considerations.
“We held one multi-agency meeting before the boat came into South Harbour on the 22nd and another one after.
“It was a case of knowing that, once we started firefighting the fire, we had to keep going until it was out.
“We didn’t commence operations until everybody was comfortable with the incident response plan.”
Across the three days of the firefighting, 58 fire appliances – staffed by six firefighters each – were at the scene at various times.
Mr Wright added: “We were asking ‘right, if we’re bringing this particular appliance and crew in, have we still got cover in the area in case other incidents happen?’
“We would never fully remove all the appliances to come to an incident.
“We asked stations early: ‘Can we ensure we’re fully staffed? If anybody’s not going to be available, let us know now so we can change the plan’.”
A storm forced fire chiefs to pivot
On January 23 – the day after the Lowlands Diamond arrived at South Harbour – forecasters warned of Storm Eowyn.
That caused fire chiefs to amend their plans to tackle the boat fire.
Mr Wright said: “It actually got delayed a further two days because we had predictions of a storm.
“One of the plans was for a crane to come in to unload the cargo from Hold Two.
“Because of wind speed and the cranes on dock side, there would have been a risk of the cranes being blown over.
“So we had to wait until everything was aligned.”
The operation begins
At just before 9am on January 27, the first appliance arrived at the harbour.
Over the coming three days, there would be a total of 58 appliances working around the clock.
So how did they do it?
Holds one, three and four were unaffected, with the cargo inside safe from the fire.
But the blaze was well alight within Hold Two.
Mr Wright said: “The doors for Hold Two open upwards using hydraulics, and then you can go inside.
“But the hold itself was up to 25m deep (half the length of an Olympic pool) and it is filled with cargo all the way down.
“We had to remove the cargo all the way down until you find out where the actual origin of the fire was.
“So we took cargo out bit by bit.
“We would take out maybe 2m worth of cargo, inspect, then keep going.
“It was slow progress and a lot of work was done.”
Mr Wright added: “It gave you real context of just how much cargo was there and just how deep the hold was.
“That’s why it took as long as it did to resolve.
“Each day we had about six senior officers there and at least six appliances, with 30-plus firefighters every day.
“And this was going on round the clock.”
Crews from as far away as Peterhead and Perth were part of the operation.
Mr Wright said: “Finally after three days, our crews got down to floor level of Hold Two.
“We paused for an hour, then did an inspection and made fully sure the scene was safe before the stop message goes out.”
Despite being by the sea – crews used fresh water
Mr Wright said; “We were very fortunate because the harbour has its own hydrants and a pressure-fed tank.
“We were requested to use fresh water because any undamaged cargo was salvageable.
“Salt water was going to really damage it.
“However, we did have the backup plan to use seawater should the incident have escalated to the point where the cargo quality is not a priority anymore.”
The ship’s crew stayed on board the whole time
For the entire 11 days the fire, the boat’s crew were allowed to stay on board.
Once they arrived in Aberdeen and the firefighting operation began, the fire service stayed in constant touch.
Mr Wright said: “There was one person from the ship’s crew who was in touch with the ship’s owners and insurance company and he was our point of contact.
“We made it clear to them that we were happy for them to remain on board as long as they remain in their quarters.
“Once the operation started we had a meeting every morning to discuss how progress was going.
“That contact was crucial because you could explain things and get full awareness of how things were moving forward.”
Firefighters will now learn about the incident as a case study
Mr Wright said: “Thankfully, everything was brought to a safe conclusion and the planning paid off.
“We were very fortunate because this was a very complex and unusual incident.
“Large ship fires present a significant challenge due to the complexities of the vessel itself, the hazardous material and other factors.”
He added: “We will now utilise this operation as a case study, so others can learn from it for future major incidents.
“The service regularly simulates a variety of emergency incidents so we can test our response plans and our readiness.”
Where is the ship now?
Having left Aberdeen on February 28, the vessel headed towards the US and is currently three-quarters of the way across the Atlantic.
It is headed for New Haven, Connecticut, and is due to arrive on Friday.
Remarkably, it has suffered only minor damage to Hold Two – and is robust enough to continue carrying cargo across the world.