Who’s In Charge? Fire on Board a Vessel Alongside, Municipal Fire Department or the SMFF Provider?

Types : Bylined Articles

In Trident Seafoods Corp. v. City of Tacoma , Trident as owner of the fishing and processing vessel the F/V Kodiak Enterprise sued the City for the alleged inappropriate forced air ventilation techniques used by its fire department, which allowed a fire in the forward section of the ship, which it claims was under control, to spread, ultimately rendering the vessel, valued at $185,000,000, a total loss.

The facts Trident pleads present yet another in the growing litany of cases where municipal fire departments, notwithstanding that they have the duty to respond to
shipboard fires on vessels alongside piers within their jurisdictions, find themselves woefully untrained and unprepared to act effectively.

However, Trident’s complaint raises another vexing question – When the municipal firefighters are the first to arrive on board and have begun the efforts to suppress the fire, but the Salvage and Marine Fire Fighting (SMFF) provider then arrives with his expertise in fighting shipboard fires, who is in charge? Who has the final word on how to fight the fire? Remember that it took the enactment of OPA 90 to establish that among all the stakeholders in a spill response, final authority rested with the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC).