Firefighters from New York City and Mount Vernon battled a smoky barge fire on the Hutchinson River Wednesday evening, extinguishing the flames while at the same time trying to not destabilize the vessel.
The barge was loaded with crushed cars and other metal, said FDNY Battalion 15 Chief Tom Grabher. It was not clear how the blaze started, he said. The vessel was docked at Pascap Recycling, which sits off Boston Road.
Firefighters from Mount Vernon sprayed water on the fire from the Westchester side of the river. Grabher said that was stopped after it became apparent the barge could not handle such a large amount of water.
The fire was reported around 6:00 p.m. Both departments were expected to remain on the scene for several hours.
Grabher said firefighters were trying to maneuver the barge closer to shore, where a crane could offload some of the debris and allow firefighters to put out the remaining pockets of fire.
