Coast Guard: Electrical fire broke out on Victoria Clipper ferry with 223 passengers aboard

SEATTLE — Coast Guard crews escorted the Victoria Clipper passenger ferry to Seattle Thursday night after an electrical fire broke out aboard the vessel near Port Townsend. The fire was extinguished and no one was injured.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Terrapin and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew escorted the Victoria Clipper to its Seattle pier after the ferry’s crew members extinguished the fire aboard the vessel.

The Victoria Clipper was reportedly carrying 223 passengers from Victoria, B.C., to Seattle at the time of the incident, the Coast Guard said. There were no reported injuries.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound in Seattle received a report from Victoria Clipper personnel of an electrical fire on an anchor windlass in a forward space on board the vessel around 7:16 p.m.

The Dolphin aircrew and Terrapin crew were diverted from a scheduled training exercise to assist. The Washington State Ferry Operation Center was also notified and was ready to divert a vessel to assist if passengers needed to be transferred from the Victoria Clipper, the Coast Guard said.

“The response of the Victoria Clipper crew was exceptional,” said Lt. Raffael Shamilov, command duty officer at the Coast Guard 13th District Command Center in Seattle.

Seattle Fire Department personnel were standing by at the pier in Seattle to assist the Victoria Clipper’s crew. The Coast Guard will investigate the cause of the fire.