Not long after midnight on a late spring morning, the mate helming the tugboat Daisy Mae noticed smoke and a faint orange glow coming from its barge loaded with scrap metal.
Within 30 seconds, flames erupted from the aft section of the deck barge CMT Y Not 6, which was connected to Daisy Mae by 600 feet of towing wire. The fire grew into an “inferno” over the next hour and continued to burn for more than a day.
None of the five crewmembers aboard Daisy Mae were hurt in the fire, which started at about 0030 on May 23, 2022, while the tow was in Delaware Bay. The 3,400-hp Daisy Mae did not sustain damage, although the 300-foot CMT Y Not 6 required nearly $7 million in repairs.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators could not pinpoint the origin of the fire among the 7,050 tons of scrap metal loaded onto CMT Y Not 6. Sparking from shifting metallic cargo, self-heating of metallic or nonmetallic cargo, improperly prepared vehicles and appliances, or damaged lithium-ion batteries all are possible sources of ignition.
“Combustible materials found within the fire debris suggest numerous potential fuel sources for the fire,” the NTSB said in its report into the incident.
Daisy Mae got underway from Newark, N.J., with CMT Y Not 6 at about 1900 on May 21. Coeymans Marine Towing of Coeymans, N.Y., owned both vessels. The barge was under charter to Camden Iron & Metal of Camden, N.J., at the time.
The tow left Newark for Camden, N.J., carrying scrap metal from discarded household appliances, crushed vehicles and numerous other sources. In Camden, the cargo would be offloaded and run through an industrial shredder, the NTSB said.
The voyage was uneventful until the morning of May 23, as the vessel sailed north in Delaware Bay. The captain turned over the watch at about 2330 the night before, and the mate noticed the glow of fire about an hour later. The mate sounded the general alarm and roused the captain and crew.
Crew then shortened the towing wire from 600 to about 300 feet and steered the vessels out of the shipping channel. Meanwhile, the fire continued to grow on the aft section of the barge.
“At 0110, a Coast Guard small boat and two local municipality fire boats arrived on scene and began fighting the fire,” the NTSB report said. “At this point, the fire on the barge had grown to an ‘inferno, as described by the mate.”
Six fireboats from surrounding communities ultimately responded. Firefighting lasted for 26 hours before the flames were fully extinguished, the report said. Extreme heat caused large quantities of metal aboard the barge to liquefy and later harden into massive chunks.
Camden Iron & Metal, through its parent company Eastern Metal Recycling, has standards in place that are intended to keep foreign substances out of scrap metal. Accidental inclusion of small quantities of non-ferrous metals, however, are generally accepted as unavoidable.
The cargo aboard CMT Y Not 6 contained a wide range of non-ferrous metals. “Several flammable nonmetallic materials, including plastics, rubber tires, and electrical components, were visible within the scrap metal cargo,” the report said. “NTSB and Coast Guard investigators found no conclusive evidence within the debris pointing to the source of the fire.”
Investigators also considered lightning as a potential source. Although lightning was visible on the horizon near the tow’s location early on May 23, investigators determined there were no strikes within 30 miles around the time the fire started.
Self-heating metallic materials, such as metallic borings, shavings, turnings and cuttings, and non-metallic materials such as oily rags, coal dust, hay or latex, are another potential source of ignition among scrap metal. Investigators saw no evidence of those materials on CMT Y Not 6, but said they could not be ruled out as a source of the fire.
Scrap metal fires are not uncommon in the trade. For instance, in January 2022, a shoreside pile of higher-grade scrap metal caught fire at an Eastern Metal Recycling facility. Also in 2022, fires started in scrap metal aboard two oceangoing ships. In both cases, the fires were extinguished without incident.
But in 2017, a scrap metal fire in a cargo hold aboard the Hong Kong-flagged Tai Yuan caused the ship to founder at the docks in Fukuoka City, Japan. Japanese authorities could not identify the origin of that fire, either.
“They identified, along with the scrap metal, a mix of dry-cell batteries, lithium batteries, button-cell batteries, kerosene cans, a large mixture of insulation materials, plastic, rubber, and vinyl products, as well as paper,” in the scrap cargo aboard Tai Yuan.
The increasing use of lithium-ion batteries in household and industrial products are a growing concern for scrap operators. An official with Eastern Metal Recycling told the NTSB these batteries can be difficult to find during the normal screening process. The official cited a lithium-ion battery on a section of metal guard rail as an example.
The international maritime community also has acknowledged risks from cargoes containing lithium-ion batteries. These batteries have been cited as possible causes of numerous recent shipboard fires. And in March 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard issued a safety alert after a container illegally loaded with lithium-ion batteries caught fire on a truck chassis while en route to a Port of Virginia export terminal.
Eastern Metal Recycling began using thermal imaging equipment to identify hot spots in scrap cargo piles at its shoreside facilities following the January 2022 fire. But there are no simple ways to spot hot spots in scrap cargoes loaded onto barges for transport.
“Once scrap metal is loaded onto a barge,” the NTSB acknowledged, “it is difficult for a towing vessel crew to visually inspect the cargo while underway.”