Anna Allen, of the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, wades through the smoke inside the cabin of the Spicy Lady, a crabbing vessel that caught fire on March 6. The Wrangell department responded to help quell the flames and escort the crew to safety.
Smoke flows from the Spicy Lady on March 6. The crabbing vessel caught fire that afternoon off the southern end of Admiralty Island, and the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department made the 100-mile floatplane trip to help quell the flames and escort the crew to safety.
After Spicy Lady, a Petersburg-based crabbing vessel, caught fire on March 6, the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department arrived on the scene to cool things down.
The fire department received a distress call at 2:32 p.m. informing them of the boat fire. At the time of the call, the 58-foot steel hulled Spicy Lady was near Point Gardner at the southern tip of Admiralty Island. After a 100-mile floatplane trip, Wrangell firefighters met up with the Spicy Lady a few miles from Point Gardner, in Warm Springs Bay on Baranof Island, where another vessel had towed the fiery ship to safety.
One crew member of the Spicy Lady sustained burns during the fire and was flown out for treatment at the Wrangell Medical Center.
Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jordan Buness said the captain and crew's actions likely saved the ship.
"Their decision to close and/or plug all windows, doors and vents appeared to significantly slow the fire's growth," Buness wrote in his incident report. "Without their swift action and response, the vessel likely would have been a total loss."
The ship and crew's safety was also ensured by two good Samaritan vessels. The Angelette towed the Spicy Lady while the Westerly escorted the ship. However, a broken towline caused delays to the transit.
Wrangell Harbormaster Steve Miller thinks the Spicy Lady will eventually arrive in Wrangell for some much-needed repairs.
"When the dust settles, they'll probably be bringing it back here to get hauled out at the Marine Service Center," he said.
Miller said this would not be the first time the Spicy Lady makes port in town. He pointed out that the king crab fishing vessel frequents Wrangell's waters to sell its product.
One of the reasons why Wrangell firefighters were the first responders, rather than a team from Petersburg, was because of the team's access to a floatplane, which is privately owned by members of the Wrangell department.
Additionally, the Spicy Lady's captain called Buness directly.
The U.S. Coast Guard received a distress call about 40 minutes before the Wrangell squad got the call, reporting that crew members were preparing to abandon ship into a life raft, according to Coast Guard Lt. Ben Zarlengo.
The crew evacuated the vessel with the assistance of the Angelette.
After receiving the distress call, it took the Wrangell response team just 91 minutes to prepare their gear, obtain weather reporters, get airborne and complete the flight to Warm Springs Bay.
The crew located the fire's origin in the ship's fo'c'sle and immediately began to extinguish the flames. The Wrangell response crew left behind their firefighting pump, hose, nozzle and other hand tools so that the crew could continue to monitor and extinguish any remaining hot spots.
Just as Wrangell's firefighters were packing up to leave, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel arrived on the scene. Buness said he briefed the Coast Guard crew on the situation, and they handled it from there.
The cause of the fire was unknown as of March 7.
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