Worker tells of fleeing burning vehicle in cargo ship fire that killed 2 New Jersey firefighters
Federal investigators are looking into a dockside cargo ship fire that killed two New Jersey firefighters at Port Newark
UNION, N.J. — Gaven Puchinsky had been pushing vehicles onto a huge cargo ship in one of the nation's busiest seaports when he heard a loud “clunking” noise that he believed came from the yellow Jeep Wrangler he was using to nudge the cars up a steep ramp in Newark, New Jersey.
Within minutes, the ship would be ablaze in a July fire that claimed the lives of two Newark fire captains.
Puchinsky estimated he had pushed about 50 cars onto the Italian-owned Grande Costa d’Avorio when he heard a noise that he likened to dropping a wrench on the floor.
He had just maneuvered a vehicle into its spot on the 10th level of the 12-level ship that was carrying more than 1,200 automobiles when his co-workers began yelling to him.
“They started screaming at me to get out of the car because the car was on fire,” Puchinsky testified Wednesday at the start of a hearing by the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board, which are investigating the cause of the July 5 blaze. “The passenger side window was open and flames were coming in through that window. There were flaming fireballs dripping from the bottom of the vehicle.”
Puchinsky said he got out of the Jeep, ran to grab nearby fire extinguishers and emptied two onto the burning vehicle, to little effect.
“My co-workers said, ‘We gotta get off the ship,’ so I ran off the ship,” he said.
His testimony was significant because it supports allegations by the families of Newark fire Captains Augusto “Augie” Acabou and Wayne “Bear” Brooks Jr. that the Jeep started the blaze that killed them. They say the Jeep was observed to be smoking earlier in the day,
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