On April 8, 2023, about 0300 local time, a fire was discovered on the commercial fishing vessel Kodiak Enterprise while the vessel was docked at the Trident Seafoods facility in Tacoma, Washington. The fire burned for 6 days before first responders declared it extinguished on April 14. No pollution or injuries were reported. The Kodiak Enterprise, which was declared a total loss, had an estimated value of $56.6 million.
We determined that the probable cause of the fire aboard the Kodiak Enterprise was an unknown electrical source within the dry stores room. Contributing to the risk to the onboard crewmembers and to the severity of the fire was the vessel’s inadequate fire detection and notification system, which was not designed to sound in crew accommodation spaces, and failed to wirelessly alert shoreside contacts.
