Five people were injured after a Staten Island Ferry caught fire at the height of Thursday’s evening rush hour and forced hundreds of passengers to evacuate, officials said.
The Sandy Ground, a brand new $85 million ferry, was carrying 866 passengers and 16 crew members to the outer borough when the fire broke out in the mechanical room shortly after 5 p.m., FDNY officials said.
First responders rushed to the vessel, which anchored near Bayonne, New Jersey as firefighters fought the blaze, DOT officials said.
The passengers on board were given life jackets, and most were evacuated to tugboats, which carried them to other ferries that assisted in the rescue. They were then transported to the St. George ferry terminal in Staten Island.
The remaining passengers stayed on board and were pushed to the Staten Island terminal by another vessel, according to at least one passenger.
The fire had been contained to the engine room when FDNY officials arrived, Chief Frank Leeb said at a press conference. The crew had sealed off access to the room to stifle the flames.
“We do believe the fire is out. But what we don’t want to do is open up that door early and give it the air that it needs and then wind up with a larger fire,” Leeb said.
The five injuries were related to minor smoke inhalation, Leeb said. Crew members were among the injured taken to area hospitals. One of the patients was asthmatic.
Despite the scare, most aboard remained calm, according to a Facebook live-stream of the evacuation shared by a passenger who stayed on board. Sal Chatman Morando, a Staten Island resident and Manhattan doorman, said a man had started screaming that there was “heavy, heavy” smoke coming from the bottom of the boat.
“I thought he was crazy, I thought there’s no way,” Morando recounted.
The fire started in the engine room, FDNY officials said. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/ShutterstockMorando was stuck on the boat for nearly two hours, he said, until it was pushed to Staten Island. When the ferry approached the terminal, the remaining passengers were asked to sit on the ground and brace for impact.
Rescue teams reportedly battled low visibility and were relying on radar to reach the ferry, which was launched just a few months ago.
