An explosion on a barge sparked a shipping container fire at a Staten Island waterfront yard Thursday afternoon, drawing more than 150 firefighters, EMS workers and hazmat personnel to the borough’s North Shore, the FDNY said.
City emergency management officials were also responding.
The FDNY received a call shortly after 2:30 p.m. reporting that a 10-foot-by-40-foot container was on fire at 3249 Richmond Terrace, between South and Arlington avenues, after an explosion on a barge, according to the department.
Commanders transmitted a second alarm at 3:18 p.m., roughly 40 minutes into the response. The department assigned 53 units and 160 fire, EMS and hazmat personnel, officials said.
An oil recycling and water treatment facility is located nearby. Officials with the company did not return phone calls.
It is the second explosion on the Richmond Terrace waterfront in less than four months. A vessel blew up at a dry dock at 3075 Richmond Terrace on May 22, killing a civilian worker and injuring 36 other people, according to police and fire officials. The injured included 31 firefighters, four EMS workers and one civilian. A fire marshal and a firefighter were hospitalized in critical condition.
Two workers were painting that vessel when it exploded for unknown reasons, the NYPD said at the time. The FDNY said crews found a fire in the basement of a metal structure at the rear of the shipping docks, transmitted a second alarm and the major explosion followed 11 minutes later.
The FDNY has not said what caused Thursday’s explosion or whether anyone was hurt. The department did not immediately say whether any hazardous material was released or what the barge and container were carrying.
The cause of the May explosion was still under investigation when officials last addressed it publicly.
This is a developing story and may be updated.