(WASHINGTON) — On Feb. 18, 2025, at about 9:25 a.m., the towing vessel Thor was pushing two barges downbound on the Delaware River, 1.5 miles downriver of New Castle, Del., when a fire broke out in the engine room. Four crewmembers isolated the fire to the engine room and subsequently abandoned ship to a nearby tugboat.
The fire was extinguished by shoreside fire department response personnel and the vessel was towed to port. There were no injuries and no pollution was reported. Damage to the vessel was estimated at about $1.5 million.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of the fire was an undetermined ignition source in the upper level of the engine room.
“ATF investigators determined that the fire originated in the upper level of the engine room, portside aft. A paint locker was located in the area of origin, and various combustible materials were stored inside and outside of the locker,” the NTSB said in its incident report. “Interviews with the vessel’s engineer revealed a boot warmer was plugged into an extension cord a few feet from the paint locker. The boot warmer was stacked on a plastic trash can. The remnants of the boot warmer’s control switch showed it to be in the ‘on’ position. After the accident, the extension cord’s insulation and plug were found burned down to the copper wiring. Additionally, the 30-amp breaker associated with the receptacle that the extension cord was plugged into was found to be in the tripped position.
“A breaker can trip due to overloaded circuits, shorts or electrical faults. An electrical fault – such as a loose, broken, or frayed wire – within the plug or nearby boot warmer could have created excessive resistive heating. Resistive heating within electrical conductors can produce sufficient heat to ignite nearby combustibles. However, due to the extent of the fire damage, the exact ignition source and cause of the fire could not be determined,” the report said.
Click here to read the complete report.
– National Transportation Safety Board
