A 58-foot steel seiner, the F/V Spicy Lady, caught on fire Thursday, March 6, in Chatham Strait near Point Gardner. All crew evacuated safely, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
“This is no longer considered a distress situation,” Lt. Matt Naylor said Thursday afternoon. “All people are safe off of the vessel.”
Naylor said the crew reported an “out of control fire” in the pilot house. The five people on board evacuated on a life raft and were brought aboard a nearby fishing vessel, the Angelette.
“They were able to get on scene really quick,” said Naylor. “They took all five people on board, and they were able to put the Spicy Lady in tow.”
The Angelette towed the Spicy Lady to Warm Springs Bay on Baranof Island. Heavy smoke was still coming from the boat.
The Spicy Lady crew informed the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department (WVFD) that they had contained the fire within the focsle. WVFD crew responded to the scene via floatplane with firefighting equipment. The tender Westerly transported them from the dock in Warm Springs Bay to the Spicy Lady. Firefighters worked through intense heat and smoke and extinguished any remaining hotspots.
The Coast Guard Cutter Douglas Denman, based out of Ketchikan, was also called upon to assess and secure the scene.
On Thursday afternoon, the Coast Guard did not report any injuries from the fire. But in an update on Friday morning, Lt. Ben Zarlengo said they provided EMT assistance to two Spicy Lady crew members: one person suffered smoke inhalation but appeared better after fresh air, and a second person was flown to Wrangell by WVFD for medical treatment, reportedly due to hand burns. The hospitalized individual was “mobile” and is in “stable condition,” WVFD Fire Chief Jordan Buness told KFSK on Friday.
“The skipper and crew of the F/V Spicy Lady are to be commended for their actions under extreme duress,” Buness stated in a written report. “Their decision to close and/or plug all windows, doors, and vents appeared to significantly slow the fire’s growth, allowing responders time to arrive and extinguish the blaze. Without their swift action and response, the vessel likely would have been a total loss.”
The Coast Guard is launching an investigation into the origin of the fire.
“The initial report was that the cause of the fire could have been batteries that were in the forward crew berthing, but that’s unconfirmed,” Zarlengo said, noting a report from WVFD. “We’re still investigating the cause.”
Zarlengo said damage to the Spicy Lady was contained on the inside; the boat will not sink. He said the long-term plan is to tow the Spicy Lady back to Petersburg.
