FIRE IN THE HARBOR – 2014
New LAFD Fireboat 2 “The Warner Lawrence” certainly had its largest fire to date when 800 feet of wooden wharf burned on the Wilmington side of the Harbor. The fire occurred at 6:41 PM on September 2, 2014. Boat 4 was first in followed by Boat 3, 2, 1 and 5. We also called in two Long Beach fireboats to work on controlling the stubborn fire that was deep into the wharf and under a warehouse in hard to reach locations. The big boats made sweeps using water and foam and our divers went into the water to cut the fire off. The land companies cut holes in the dock to get water onto the fire and cut a large trench to stop the spread. More than 170 firefighters were on the scene working through the night. 36 hours later the fire was extinguished. The mate on Boat 2 went through eight air bottles during the battle. Certainly a fire to be remembered!
THE “FREDRICKSBURG” INCIDENT – 1944
During 1944, the City of Los Angeles was a nervous place. Although more than two years had passed since the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the coast of California, and the LA Harbor specifically, were considered to be potential targets for the Japanese Navy.
The LAFD worked closely with the US Navy and the Coast Guard to prepare for any type of incident that might befall the harbor. Still, even with all of the preparation, the “Fredricksburg” incident served as a reminder that anything can happen – at any time.
Fuel and related components were highly in-demand resources during the war. Tankers of all sizes moved in and out of both Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors. During the evening of October 20, 1944, the S.S. Fredricksburg, a tanker operating for the War Shipping Administration, was tied up to Berth 151 in the LA Harbor. The ship had arrived with her holds filled with water ballast.
Shortly after midnight, dock crews began loading toluene into hold number two, while at the same time pumping water ballast out of hold number one. Toluene is a highly inflammable, very volatile petroleum substance that has many military uses.
By 0800 on the 21st, several people detected the odor of what they thought was gasoline in the area around Berth 223. The Coast Guard arrived and several officers began checking for the source of the fumes. They discovered that hold number two of the Fredricksburg was leaking into hold number one (containing ballast water) and was being pumped into the bay. At that time of day, the tidal current in the bay carried almost directly from Berth 151 on a southeasterly direction to Berth 223. It’s unclear what action was requested, but the polluted ballast water continued to fill the bay.
Shortly before 1400 hrs. a collection of Navy and civilian ship workers were working on several Navy ships at Berth 223. A welder, C.E. Truitt, struck an arc on the bow of one of the under-construction ships, LSM 211 (Note: An LSM is a Landing Ship Medium). As he struck the arc, a flash fire completely enveloped the under-construction LSM’s and a large area of the surrounding bay and docks. On the docks were about 25 vehicles, trucks and passenger cars, all of which caught fire.
At Berth 227, quarters of Boat No. 2, a short way down the bay, the man on floor watch saw the flash of fire and called to Captain Jack Allen. Captain Allen turned in a still alarm and ordered immediate response of the big fire boat. Responding on a first alarm to the location were Fire Boats 2 and 3, Engine Companies 36 and 40, Rescue 36, Salvage 36 and Battalion Chief Dikeman.
As Boat 2 churned up the channel towards the fire, a 4 1/2-in. tip was put on the ship’s main battery, “Big Bertha,” and the bow and tower monitor were readied for action. As they neared the burning LSM’s, with their decks and sides well involved in fire, one sweep of the great 4 1/2-inch stream of water was all that was needed to completely snuff out the fire. The smaller batteries went to work knocking down fire floating on the surface of the bay.
Within a minute, Boat 2 had completed one pass of the dock and making a quick turn, made a second pass and in similar fashion, extinguished the fires on the dock involving the autos and trucks, while the arriving land companies were still stretching their lines. To get an idea of the terrific impact of a 4 1/2-inch stream, it was noted that a medium sized truck, struck broadside, was pushed across the dock by the force of the water as though it were a toy. Coast Guard fire boats which had been patrolling the area closed in and aided in the task of finishing off the areas of the water that still were afire.
Boat 3, with Senior Boat Operator J.V. Roquemore, responded along with the rest of the assignment. As he neared the burning area he noticed that a considerable number of men were in the water around the burning vessels and clinging to the nearby wharves. As Roquemore was alone, due to the depletion of manpower in the fire department, he realized that it would be impossible to make any effort to fight the fire and handle the boat at the same time. His first duty appeared to be in the direction of saving all possible life.
Leaving the firefighting to Boat 2, he took up a position as near as possible to the struggling men in the water, throwing all the life preservers that he had aboard to them and pulling men out of the water as fast as he could reach them. A civilian, Pat Lee, clambered aboard when Boat 3 drifted close to some tugs tied up to his firm’s boat works adjacent to Berth 233, and helped “Rocky” with his life saving endeavors. These two men also got help from the nurse at the Industrial Hospital of the boat yard and brought her aboard to administer to the victims. By now “Rocky” had his boat full of injured and suffering naval and civilian men. At first they didn’t seem too badly injured, but soon some showed the effects of severe shock and many of them were seriously and dangerously burned.
It was decided to take them to the Coast Guard base at the old California Yacht Club across the channel. Arriving there at 2:15 p.m. Boat 3 delivered the seventeen cases she had aboard. In the interval many of the injured had become unconscious and had to be removed via stretchers.
Boat 3 returned to the scene of the fire and pulled in several more victims found in the water and after taking them to a place of safety, made several trips bringing medical officers and civilian doctors to and from the scene of the fire, the Coast Guard boats, as well as Boat 2. A total of sixteen men, five civilians and eleven Navy personnel died, with more than thirty-five being hospitalized. Undoubtedly this toll would have been much higher had it not been for the courageous and efficient work of Mate Roquemore, who has spent his 20 years on the fire department in the bay area.
Once the fire aboard the LSM’s was knocked down, the Navy removed them to another location, and although the fire on the water and docks had been extinguished, a tough and dangerous fire continued to burn amid the creosoted under piling of the wharf. The dock had a fire stop underneath to the north of the fire area, but to the south there were no stops and in this direction the fire continued to spread.
At approximately 1445 hrs., a second alarm assignment was called, bringing Engines 38 and 49, Truck 48 to commence operations on the dock fire.
From the water side the fire boats closed in. Skiffs from the Coast Guard boats and Boat 2 with 1 1/2-in. lines were sent under the dock although the acrid smoke and fumes made the going plenty rough. Along with the second alarm assignment, the crews of Engine and Truck 24 were sent to the scene to provide additional manpower. Starting at a point just south of the blaze, axes and jumbo bars were used to cut holes through the three inches of asphalt and heavy 4×6 inch timbers that formed the dock. At first cellar nozzles were tried, but it was found that the barrels were too short to provide any effective reach. Changing to Bresnan distributors, the desired results were achieved as they could be lowered to any point necessary. From this starting point other holes were successfully cut along the pier until the complete area had been extinguished. In some cases it was necessary to lower men and lines into the openings to get at stubborn pockets of fire.
While the operations at the dock were going on, the fire boats cruised up and down the channel playing their batteries on the water to break up any oil slick that might tend to get under the wharf and further complicate matters.
Article from the Los Angeles Firemen’s Grapevine