Incident Responses for December 2023

Every month, NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R)’s Emergency Response Division provides scientific expertise and services to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), ranging from producing oil spill trajectories that estimate where a spill may spread; to identifying possible effects on wildlife and fisheries; to estimating how long oil may stay in the environment. We also receive requests to track and model other floating objects, such as log booms or shipping containers that have broken free, whale carcasses, fish die-offs, and algal blooms.

So far this year, OR&R has provided support for 162 incidents. During December, OR&R provided response support for 25 incidents, including 13 new incidents in nine different states. The 13 new incidents included 10 actual or potential oil spills, two chemical incidents, and one “other”—a dead fin whale. OR&R staff prepared 153 incident reports and documents, including five fate and trajectory analyses. Cumulatively, these incidents posed an approximate risk of more than 168,000 gallons of oil and chemicals.

(Note: All spill volumes are approximate and based on initial information that may be updated after further investigation.)

Fire onboard M/V Genius Star XI near Dutch Harbor, AK

This incident illustrates the serious challenges inherent in fighting a cargo fire at sea, compounded by the unique risks of burning lithium-ion batteries.

On December 25, the 410-foot cargo vessel Genius Star XI experienced a fire onboard in its Number 1 cargo hold during a voyage from Vietnam to California The vessel’s primary cargo was 828 metric tons of lithium-ion batteries.

Following response protocols, the vessel used its CO2 fire suppression system, and the fire was believed to be extinguished. No injuries were reported among its crew of 19. On the Great Circle route across the North Pacific Ocean that transits along the Aleutian Islands, the vessel was diverted from its original destination of San Diego towards Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

On December 28, the USCG Sector Anchorage Command Center was notified of a second fire, in the Number 2 cargo hold. Due to exhausting their CO2 suppression system on the first fire, the crew worked to cool the cargo hold boundaries with seawater and monitored the fire with onboard sensors.

USCG District 17 launched the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley and an HC-130 airplane to the incident to gain greater situational awareness and determine additional assistance needs. Genius Star XI proceeded with a plan to transit to a mooring buoy near Dutch Harbor, maintaining standoff from areas-to-be-avoided along the islands. There, a marine firefighting team boarded the vessel to assist. They assessed that the situation was stable and there were no further indications of heat in the cargo holds. A one-mile safety zone was in effect around the ship, and salvors remained on board to monitor the situation.