Fire damages NOAA piers, boats on Lake Union

SEATTLE – A fire scorched two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration piers, four of the agency’s boats and two NOAA buildings on the east side of Lake Union early Wednesday, hours after an Independence Day fireworks show ended.

Six firefighters suffered minor injuries. No one else was hurt.

Dozens of houseboats were evacuated as a precaution, but no homes were damaged, city Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said.

The fire was reported around 1:30 a.m., more than two hours after a fireworks show over the lake ended. Fitzpatrick said firefighters had yet to determine the cause of the blaze.

Crews contained most of the flames by daybreak, but some heavy timber support beams were still burning beneath a pier on Wednesday afternoon, Fitzpatrick said.

At an afternoon news conference, Fire Chief Gregory Dean said it could take another day or so to fully extinguish the fire and clear the scene.

The fire damaged two 224-foot NOAA ships – the McArthur, a decommissioned research vessel; and the Assertive, a former Navy ship NOAA acquired last year with plans to retrofit for oceanographic research, NOAA spokesman Brian Gorman said. It also destroyed a small work vessel and an inflatable boat.

Flames also gutted a pickup, a van and a station wagon. Neither Fitzpatrick nor Gorman had further details on the vehicles.

Capt. Mark Ablondi, commander of the marine operations center, said the pier damage could force NOAA to find other docks for boats coming in from research missions “for the next couple of years.”