The U.S. Coast Guard’s public hearing into the fatal ship fire in Port Newark last summer spent much of its third day, Friday, centered on what caused a Jeep to burst into flames and spark the larger blaze.
A modified 2008 Jeep Wrangler caught fire on the night of July 5 while it was being used to push other vehicles onto the cargo ship Grande Costa D’Avorio. Special Agent Matthew Hartnett of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives explained that his agency’s investigation had concluded the most likely cause of the Jeep’s fire was overheated transmission fluid. He said Jeeps of that model had previously been recalled by Chrysler because of issues with transmission fluid overheating, a situation that had the potential to cause fires under the hood. The Jeep at Port Newark had received corrective maintenance in that recall, but that work was focused on creating more clear alerts for drivers, not changing the conditions that actually cause transmission fluid to overheat.
“We did hear testimony that there were flaming fireballs dripping from the bottom of the vehicle,” Hartnett said. “That’s obviously consistent with a fluid burning since that was at the onset of the fire.”
The hearing on Friday included extensive testimony from Mike Richardson, a fire investigator from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, who explained in detail how firefighters responded to the blaze.
The hearing will resume on Tuesday. Multiple Newark fire officials are scheduled to testify about the incident response that night.
