A crew from Fire and Rescue NSW Nowra has been working on the fire fighting operations at Port Kembla on the freighter Iron Chieftain.
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A crew onboard Nowra 405 arrived at Port Kembla in the early hours of Tuesday morning to assist with fire fighting operations on the bulk carrier.
The crews worked on the fire until 1pm.
The fire is believed to have begun on a conveyor belt, which disintegrated and partly dropped down into the hold, which housed a partial load of the gravel-like steelmaking material dolomite.
Nowra’s Compressed Air Foam System (CAFS) specialist appliance was also utilised to maintain control of the blaze.
Firefighters have undertaken intelligence-gathering trips into the hold, discovering it is not so much the iron ore burning but rubber and dust while there is a fair amount of water in the hold as well as other obstructions from the ship.