It's a very sad day for the Newark Fire Department and the fire service family. Last night a cargo and vehicle carrier ship caught fire in Port Newark. Two Newark firefighters, Augusto Acabou, of engine 16 and Wayne Brooks, Jr. from Truck 4 died in the line of duty. It was a massive fire onboard the Italian
ship Grande Costa D'Avorio. The ship was in Port Newark for a few days and was in the process of loading new and used vehicles and cargo heading for West Africa. Somehow a fire started in vehicles on the 10th deck spreading to decks above. Fire departments from New Jersey and the FDNY responded tp assist. The two members got separated from their companies and Maydays were transmitted. It was several hours later that the members were found and their bodies removed.
I first heard about the fire early in the morning. My heart sunk when I read the details. When I was a Newark fireman the Ironbound section of Newark was nicknamed, "The Powder Keg". "Down Neck" was known for it's Portuguese residents and restaurants. But surrounding, and sometimes next to, residential dwellings were paint and chemical factories, refrigerated warehouses, auto salvage yards, farmers markets and processing plants, steel and manufacturing shops, and just about anything that is toxic and could kill you could be found on Raymond Blvd., Blanchard Street, Doremus Avenue, Wilson Avenue, South Street, and Port Newark and Newark International Airport. While fire companies didn't see the structural fire duty that companies protecting the South, Central, West and North Wards, they sat amongst some of the nastiest potential fires you could encounter.
As the news reported more details of the fire and the identities of the brothers who died I had to reflect some of the work I had in the port, and on similar ships like that. That ship contained 1,200 cars, squeezed in like sardines on decks with a low ceiling, with poor ventilation, and only feet between each car. If one goes, then several go. The best attack, is big water, quick, and from a distance. Hard to do in a basically a large metal box, 12 stories high and hundreds of feet long. One of the biggest challenges I could recall during training was the different threads on the hose couplings. There was no international standard for, say Newark or US threads, to fit ones from Italy. You either stretched your own fire hoses, or used what they had on the ship. I remember one fire I had early in my career (375 Mt. Prospect Ave). We were first due and I ran to the stairwell and stretched the "house line" and proceeded into the fire apartment where soon the line burst. After the fire my buddy Mike Foy, who was the senior guy in the company and acting Captain that day said, "Don't ever stretch a house line". I never forgot that lesson.
Today I wrapped up the end of the semester. I was in Newark. I passed a few firehouses going in and out that had their flags lowered to half staff. I didn't go past the firehouses where the brothers worked
but firehouses I had worked in as both a fireman and Captain. In 1994 my own firehouse, Rescue Co. 1, lost Firefighter Mike DeLane. I was at that fire. I remember the morning and days after. During my time in Newark four firefighters died in the Line of Duty. Thankfully, they were single member fire deaths. The last time Newark had a multiple fatality was in 1972 when three members lost their lives in a fire in a vacant building at Pennington and Orchard Streets. Severely injured in that fire was my future Captain, Cliff Dainty, who was assigned to Engine Co. 12. His Captain was one of the deceased.
On my way home I took a detour and found my way drawn down to the Port. I remember usually hating to go to the Port. It was either some kind of f'd up fire, or a Haz/Mat, a some kind of technical rescue or industrial accident. Before 9/11 the Port was wide open, you could dam near walk up to any railcar, vehicle, or ship, but now the place is like Fort Knox. From a distance I could see the ship continuing to burn. I am sure they aren't putting anyone in there and are concentrating hitting it from the outside. I know what I would be saying if I was working and sent down there to fight the fire after what happened, "Fuck that boat", is what I would say.
