Emergency crews have extinguished the fire at Whittier's new cruise ship dock after hauling thousands of gallons of water to battle the flames on Monday.
The fire was extinguished early Tuesday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a social media post. No injuries were reported, officials said. Investigators are still determining what caused the fire and where it broke out.
Damage assessments for the dock are ongoing, the City of Whittier said in a statement Tuesday.
The fire, first reported around 11 a.m. Monday, drew a response from multiple agencies, including crews from Anchorage, Girdwood, Whittier and the U.S. Coast Guard. The responders did not have access to a working hydrant at the cruise ship terminal, so they had to use a hydrant further in the city to battle the flames, said Megan Peters with the Anchorage Fire Department.
In total, roughly 112,000 gallons of water were used Monday, Peters said.
“If there's not that hydrant there, you have to figure out a way to get water there,” Peters said. “In this case, we established an engine at a hydrant that was located a good distance away from where the incident was happening, and we utilized three tenders working in tandem.”
Each tender made repeated 10-minute loops between the dock and the hydrant to keep the water supply running until operations were handed off to relief crews later in the evening, Peters said.
In its statement, the City of Whittier thanked the many people and agencies that responded to the fire.
“This response extended far beyond Whittier,” City Manager Jackie Wilde said. “Firefighters came through the tunnel, marine crews attacked the fire from the water, dispatchers coordinated resources, and businesses and agencies stepped forward to help. The City of Whittier is grateful to everyone who answered the call.”
The Klondike Express, a tour boat operated by Phillips Cruises and Tours, was moored alongside the dock at the time of the fire. The boat sustained damage, the company said in a statement online.
The company will continue operations with other vessels for the remainder of the season, it said.
Another cruise ship, the Norwegian Jade, safely departed the area, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The U.S. Navy will still commission the future USS Ted Stevens, a guided-missile destroyer, in Whittier on Oct. 3 at the Princess Cruises terminal, the city said in a statement.
This is a developing story.
