Update June 12, 5 p.m.: The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said the fire on the cargo ship is now officially out.
The ship is now officially out... our services are no longer needed and our guys will be pulling out... it has been a tremendous team effort... thanks for everyone’s effort in this daunting task @JAXPORT @USCGSoutheast @CityofJax pic.twitter.com/vXOxMfqOGD
— MyJFRD (@JFRDJAX) June 12, 2020
Original story, June 11: The firefighters hurt in a cargo ship fire and explosion at Blount Island are now back at home recovering.
Captain Mark Raffield and his crew are contract workers with the U.S. Navy at Naval Station Mayport.
Friday evening they received a call to help the Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department put out a massive cargo ship fire at Blount Island.
Ahead at noon we are going to take you onboard the tugboat used to help put out a massive fire aboard a cargo ship last week at Blount Island. And you’ll hear from the captain who helped JFRD put out the flames @ActionNewsJax @WOKVNews pic.twitter.com/KkBFdMkgev
— Alicia Tarancon (@AliciaANJax) June 11, 2020
"There was smoke, a lot of smoke. Lot of steam from the water hitting the side of the hull," Raffield said.
Action News Jax first showed you last week when firefighters worked to contain the fire that broke out on that cargo ship.
A blast onboard sent at least eight firefighters to the hospital.
As soon as Raffield arrived with the tugboat his crew got to work.
The captain told us that his crew spent five days out on the water battling the flames of the cargo ship.
The crew went through about 18 million gallons of water each day.
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The water was pumped through the fire monitors that crews used to cool off the sides of the ship.
"I think our main job was just keeping the hull cool so she doesn’t split, so it doesn’t cause an environmental impact or she didn’t go to the bottom," Raffield said.
All the equipment inside the tugboat is constantly maintained and inspected so these crews can respond to emergency operations.
The captain has been doing this type of work for nearly three decades.
For him, responding to this fire was just another day on the job.
"The ones you should thank are the firefighters that were there. We were just doing our job that was it," Raffield said.
JFRD recently tweeted on Wednesday that all firefighters that were hospitalized are now at home resting and recovering.
Money is being raised to help those firefighters and their families.
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