Fire breaks out on shipping vessel docked at Port of Tacoma

A fire broke out Thursday evening on a large shipping vessel docked at the Port of Tacoma. According to the port, it burned on the upper deck of the ship before the vessel’s fire-suppression system put out the flames.

Few details were available about the fire Friday morning. The blaze was reported at about 7:22 p.m. near the 700 block of Port of Tacoma Road. No injuries were reported.

The fire occurred onboard the Midnight Sun, an 839-foot shipping vessel. It is owned by TOTE, a domestic shipping company with operations out of Alaska and Puerto Rico, according to its website. It’s unclear what the ship was carrying.

Tacoma Fire Department said a preliminary investigation found that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction in a piece of equipment onboard. According to the Port of Tacoma, the equipment was being used for ship maintenance.

The fire department sent multiple units to the incident, including two rapid-response boats, Defiance and Destiny. Spokesperson Joe Meinecke said most units were called off fairly quickly after seeing that the ship’s crew had the fire under control.

Meinecke said the fire caused minimal damage, mainly damaging the equipment that caught fire.

This story was originally published September 23, 2022 8:16 AM.

Peter Talbot covers crime and breaking news in Pierce County. He started with The News Tribune in 2021. Before that, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. In college, he worked as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C. He also interned for the Oregonian and the Tampa Bay Times.