Hose kink in smoky darkness disoriented firefighter in ship blaze that killed 2 colleagues
UNION, NJ — A kink in a fire hose extending into the smoky darkness of a freighter fire disoriented a New Jersey fire chief as he attempted to follow the hose back to safety, separating him from two other firefighters who later died during the blaze , the captain testified. Tuesday.
Captain Oswald Robetto of the Newark Fire Department testified at an investigative hearing held by the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board regarding the July 5, 2023, fire aboard the Italian-owned Grande Costa D’Avorio.
Fire Captains Augusto “Augie” Acabou and Wayne Brooks Jr. died in that fire at Port Newark, one of the nation’s busiest seaports.
Robetto, Acabou and a third firefighter advanced into the smoke on Deck 10, near the top of the 12-story ship, where the fire broke out amid a shipment of 1,200 cars bound for West Africa.
They followed a hose through the darkness, eventually reaching Brooks at the nozzle, which sprayed water onto the ceiling, Robetto testified.
“I asked him, ‘What are you hitting?’ Roberto said. ‘He replied, ‘Just keep the ceiling cool.’ ”
Brooks was carrying a thermal imaging camera, a device that allows firefighters to see through smoke and look for signs of heat, such as flames or a human’s body heat.
Robetto did a quick scan with the camera and found nothing alarming, then a battalion chief ordered them to retreat with the hose to where they started on the deck.
“Let’s go, they want us out,” he told Acabou and Brooks.
The three men turned and followed the snake back outside. Acabou sat in the front, Robetto in the middle and Brooks behind him.
At this point, Brooks’ face mask began to vibrate, a warning that his air supply was running low. Robetto ordered Brooks to move to the front of the line, holding the fireman’s jacket to ensure he didn’t get lost during the changeover, where visibility was no more than arm’s length.
They slowly followed the snake outside and held it in their hands.
Someone – Robetto couldn’t remember who – said, “The line goes this way.” Then Robetto noticed a kink in the hose, similar to the folded obstruction in a garden hose that prevents water from flowing.
“I was stuck; I hesitated,” Robertto testified. “I knelt down to look at the kink. I kept saying to myself, ‘This is impossible. How did this happen?’”
Disoriented, Robetto said he left the line and started looking for a wall, as firefighters are trained to do when they lose their orientation in low-visibility situations. His own mask began to vibrate, meaning he too was running out of air.
Roberto used his radio to call for help. Last week there was testimony indicating the call may have come from Acabou, but Robetto said it was he who sent it.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday!” Robertto remembered shouting into the radio. “Engine 16, I’m separated from the line, separated from the others. I’m running out of air!”
Robertto eventually reached a doorway and safety. He believed that Brooks and Acabou had also returned safely to the end of the snake.
They didn’t have that.
Only when a roll call was held on the ship’s deck did it become clear that the two firefighters were missing. Robetto remembered lying on the deck, covered in a foot of water that was “boiling hot” from the fire below.
“I was quite shocked by what had just happened,” he testified.
Acabou was found wedged between vehicles; it took more than an hour to free him using a hydraulic rescue tool known as the ‘jaws of life’.
Brooks was found lying on another part of the same deck. Both were unresponsive and pronounced dead at a Newark hospital after being lowered to the dock by crane aboard the freighter.
The hearing will continue through Thursday.
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