Stack Fire Sends Smoke Plume Over Port of Anchorage

On Friday, a stack hearth aboard a product tanker startled residents across the port of Anchorage, Alaska with a loud explosion and a plume of smoke.

The foreign-flagged tanker Atlantic Lily was alongside at a gasoline pier in Anchorage on Friday and unloading a cargo of jet gasoline. For causes of a technical malfunction, the boiler started to emit unburned gasoline vapor up the stack, a harmful situation that can lead to an explosion. At about 2200 hours, the vapor ignited within the stack, producing a loud increase, thick smoke and visual flames. 

The vessel’s crew responded to the emergency by deploying hearth hoses and extinguishing the flames. The Anchorage Hearth Division and Port of Alaska personnel arrived on scene shortly after to offer help, however didn’t have to board the vessel. The cargo switch operation was paused till the fireplace was absolutely out and the trigger had been investigated with Coast Guard oversight. 

The crew discovered {that a} technical difficulty with the ship’s auxiliary boiler resulted in an improper fuel-to-air ratio, igniting soot within the exhaust stack and inflicting the loud blast, in response to Sector Anchorage. A technician was known as in to repair the boiler, which stays turned off till after the ship has completed offloading her cargo. 

On Saturday, gasoline offloading had resumed when the stack caught hearth once more, however at a lesser scale, the Coast Guard informed the Anchorage Every day Information. No accidents or air pollution had been reported from both incident. 

Atlantic Lily is a 50,000 dwt product tanker in-built 2008. Her current port state management file is clear, however in 2019 she was cited for hearth security and SOLAS points, together with firefighting tools, air flow and lifeboat deficiencies.