U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel Thursday were inspecting a fishing boat at Pier 16 when a neglected stove apparently caught fire, leading to a spectacular blaze.
Honolulu firefighters, with the help of a tugboat crew, managed to bring the fire aboard the St. Peter under control in an hour and 20 minutes, and extinguished it in two hours.
At 2:11 p.m. the U.S. Coast Guard said that “the vessel appears to be stable.” During their inspection, U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel “asked the crew to muster on the pier when a stove burner was reportedly left on in the galley, presumably causing the fire,” the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard received a report from Harbor Patrol at 1:30 p.m. that the St. Peter commercial fishing vessel was on fire at Pier 16.
No injuries were reported, authorities said.
However, crew members are unable to live aboard the American-flagged vessel, so they were relocated to sister ships in the same fleet, which had extra room and were moored in the harbor, the Coast Guard said.