One day after two sailings had to be cancelled due to a vehicle fire, the Coho ferry sailings resumed on Friday morning.
On Thursday, a vehicle caught fire onboard the 3 p.m. sailing leaving Victoria. This resulted in the 5:15 p.m. leaving Port Angeles and 7:30 p.m. leaving Victoria being cancelled.
“We are thankful for the efforts of our crew and the Port Angeles Fire Department in containing the fire,” reads a notice posted to the Coho’s website. “All sailings will be operating as scheduled for tomorrow, May 17. We appreciate everyone’s patience and apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.”
The first sailing left Port Angeles at 8:20 a.m.
The Clallam 2 Professional Firefighters Local 5177 said fighting the fire on board came with extra challenges due to it being on board a ferry.
“Extremely low visibility, lots of hazards and exposures, and a potential MCI,” the firefighters union said on Facebook.
“This shows the impact that adequate staffing can have – it took dozens of firefighters from 5 agencies to successfully manage this incident. We have 2 on-duty personnel at night and on the weekends.”
The union’s post says firefighters from Port Angeles Fire Department, Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue, Clallam County Fire Dist. 3 (Sequim), Clallam Country Fire Dist. 4 (Joyce) and Olympic Ambulance responded to the fire.
Victoria resident Peter Fairley tells CHEK News it was a motor home that caught fire, and there was smoke visible from the ferry as it docked in Port Angeles.
“As the ship pulled around, they sort of pull its back around to pull up to the ramp, you could see smoke coming out of the open doors,” said Fairley.
“The growing number of firefighters arrived, a couple of guys stepped off of the ferry to help coordinate.”
READ PREVIOUS: ‘Very smoky’: Motor home catches fire aboard Coho ferry
With files from CHEK’s Adam Chan
Laura Brougham
