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BY ROBERT KLECZYNSKI

At 1200 hours on Saturday, December 18, 2010, Bayonne (NJ) Fire Department companies were dispatched to a report of a structure fire in the Bayonne Dry Dock Complex. The dry dock facility is in the eastern section of the city, adjacent to Upper New York Bay. En route to the incident, responding companies could see a large volume of dark smoke in the vicinity of the reported fire.

Squad 5 was the first fire unit to arrive at 100 Port Terminal Boulevard and reported a working fire in a two-story commercial occupancy (photo 1). A second alarm was transmitted on the arrival of Battalion Chief 3.

(1) On arrival, companies saw heavy fire conditions on side A. (Photo by Felix Lopez.)

Squad 5 led off with an aggressive interior attack using a 2½-inch attack line supplied by tank water and requested a feed while the rescue and truck companies completed a primary search of the fire area, which was negative.

Securing a primary water supply at this location proved to be challenging. The principal water supply on the site is a dry loop standpipe system that services the dry dock facility. Installed around the perimeter of the dry dock itself is a 10-inch above-ground piping system that is 2,000 feet in length, capable of supplying 110 pounds per square inch (psi). Three saltwater pumps, each capable of supplying 3,000 gallons per minute (gpm), fed the system.

Fortunately, a ship was undergoing repair in the dry dock at the time, and the system was wet and functional. To prevent freezing, the system was constantly flowing water through a discharge valve back into the river, which indicated to the incident commander (IC) that the system was operational. Even though Engine 6 tied into this system to feed Squad 5, this necessitated long hoselays of more than 1,000 feet and involved time-consuming relay pumping.

Members assigned to Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Marine 9 in neighboring Staten Island, New York, had a visual on the smoke plume and responded to the incident. Since Marine 9 was there in the initial stage of the operation, the fireboat fed Squad 5 with a five-inch supply line (photo 2). Additional engine companies obtained secondary water supplies using off-site municipal hydrants. These hydrants were in an adjacent property and required forcible entry, breaching metal fencing, to access.

(2) FDNY Marine 9 positioning to feed Squad 5 with a supply line. (Photo by Mark Bottino.)

FIRE VENTING FROM WINDOWS

On fire department arrival, fire was venting from several large window openings on the northeast corner of the first floor; autoexposure was extending to the second floor. The window openings throughout most of the building were boarded up, including those in the original fire area, which had burned through prior to our arrival.

Because of the large volume of fire; reports that all civilian personnel were accounted for; and the fact that the main body of fire was in the flammable storage area that contained paints, solvents, and other chemicals, we initiated a defensive operation (photo 3). A special call was made for a hazardous materials response when the nature of the burning materials was identified.

(3) Heavy black smoke was present in the area of origin inside the building, which contained large quantities of paints, solvents, and other chemicals. (Photo by author.)

After the arrival of the deputy chief of operations and the chief of department (who eventually would operate as the IC), a third alarm was transmitted. Companies quickly positioned to operate elevated streams and deck guns to darken down the large body of fire. This strategy was followed immediately with an aggressive interior attack to knock down all visible fire. This seemed like a routine enough commercial fire with a good stop.

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