The 10 Florida firefighters caught in an explosion during a cargo ship fire are suing over their injuries.
The 15-floor cargo ship that caught fire June 4 in the St. Johns River at Blount Island in Jacksonville was loaded with 2,400 scrapped cars and was headed to western Africa. While Jacksonville firefighters battled the flames, an explosion rocked the ship, seriously injuring some of the firefighters.
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According to the firefighters' lawyers, the heat from the fire reached 1,000 degrees, WJXT-TV reports. Even with their protective gear, some of the firefighters suffered severe burns that required treatment at a Gainesville burn unit.
“It was like a blast furnace, being trapped behind the engine of an F-16 (jet) blasting into you — extreme heat that keeps going and going and going,” lawyer Curry Pajcic said at a Tuesday press conference. “And you have nowhere to go.”
Along with severe burns, one firefighter suffered a broken arm. Three of the injured firefighters have not returned to work.
Pajcic also criticized the lack of fire safety equipment aboard the ship, according to WJXT. More than 150 firefighters needed more than a week to finally put out the burning ship.
“The ship had no flooding sprinkler system," he said. "This ship had no standpipes that the firefighters could plug their hoses in to put out the fire. They had to drag a hose up the ramp, up the stairwell and into this deck.”
The lawsuit targets the companies connected to the cargo ship: Hoegh Autoliners, Horizon Terminal Services, Grimaldi Deep Sea and SSA Marine. According to the lawsuit, the ship's crew loaded the junked cars without disconnecting the batteries and electrical systems.
The ship's crew also disable the craft's fire alarm system and didn't call 9-1-1 at a critical time, Pajcic said.
Given the conditions, a larger explosion—similar to the recent blast at Beirut's port—could have resulted aboard the ship, causing devastating effects to the city, Pajcic added.
“If this ship breaks up in the St. Johns River, fully loaded and ready to go, or explodes, the city feels the consequences for decades,” he noted.
