Local Expert Called in to Help Battle an Alaskan Ship Fire

The U.S. Coast Guard needed some expertise two weeks ago when a load of lithium ion batteries caught fire on a ship off the Aleutian Islands. The Coast Guard enlisted Galveston-based T&T Marine Salvage to help with the response. That’s when James Janda of Hostyn got a phone call.

Janda worked 13 years for T&T Salvage, a worldwide leader in handling maritime emergencies. He started out as a mechanic with the company and traveled the world responding to fires and other mishaps on the high seas.

Now a private contractor, Janda said he spends most of his time working on farm tractors here in Fayette County. But every once in a while he gets a call to some far corner of the globe.

Janda said lithium battery fires are a somewhat new hazard to shipping on the high seas.

“We haven’t had any issues with this stuff in shipping before,” Janda said. “It’s what they call a thermal runaway. (The batteries) start discharging and they get hot.”

That’s what happened on Christmas Day to a load of lithium batteries on board the Genius Star XI, a 410-foot cargo ship traveling from Vietnam to San Diego. Janda said he does not know how the fire started, but he said the ship was traveling in rough seas. The Coast Guard said an investigation will begin once emergency responders secure the ship.

The Coast Guard diverted the ship to Dutch Harbor in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands – “Way out at the tip of the tail,” Janda said. A press release from the Coast Guard praised the crew for averting a possible explosion. Janda and other personnel from T&T Salvage arrived in Dutch Harbor, where they boarded the ship to assist with fighting the fire.

Janda said his job involved pumping inert gas into the cargo hold, which helped to snuff out the fire. The fire was out as of Sunday, Dec. 31. But Janda and the team from T&T Salvage remained in Dutch Harbor through this week monitoring the ship.

“Everything is steady right now,” Janda said. “They’re just bringing out people to look over everything.”

Janda told the Record on Monday that he wasn’t sure when he would return home, but he was ready to get back to his tractor work.

“I used to go all over the world,” he said. “I don’t really miss all the extra traveling, and my wife doesn’t either.”