Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based Trident Seafoods filed a lawsuit against the city of Tacoma on 8 April, accusing the city's fire department of “making a critical tactical decision” that destroyed a Trident commercial fishing vessel in 2023.
According to King5, the lawsuit seeks damages of at least USD 100 million (EUR 85 million).
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported that Trident’s boat, Kodiak Enterprise, caught on fire in April 2023 while docked at a Trident Seafoods facility in Tacoma around 3 a.m. and continued to burn for six days before firefighters were able to extinguish it. The damages caused a total loss of the vessel, amounting to an estimated value of USD 56.6 million (EUR 48,243,010).
According to a release by the NTSB, personnel on site “determined that the probable cause of the fire aboard the Kodiak Enterprise was an unknown electrical source within the dry stores room.” Additionally, the NTSB said there was “inadequate fire detection and notification systems” onboard, which were “not designed to sound in crew accommodation spaces and failed to wirelessly alert shoreside contacts."
As reported by King5, the lawsuit filed by Trident Seafoods alleges that the Tacoma Fire battalion chief “refused” recommendations and “ordered crews to pump large volumes of pressurized air into the vessel using a technique called positive pressure ventilation."
The lawsuit further alleges that this technique caused uncontrollable smoke, which led to the total loss of the fishing vessel.
The city of Tacoma has not responded publicly to the allegations made in the lawsuit.
