Crews battle hazardous fire on cargo ship in San Pedro, major emergency declared

Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times on Nov 22, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — A major emergency was declared at the Port of Los Angeles on Friday night as 186 firefighters worked to combat a massive and stubborn blaze involving hazardous materials on a cargo ship, authorities said.

An electrical fire was reported below deck of the 1,100-foot container ship 1 Henry Hudson at 6:38 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. An explosion rattled the boat just before 8 p.m., affecting power to lights and cranes, authorities said.

Hazardous materials are in several of the cargo containers involved in the blaze and all firefighters are wearing protective suits and oxygen masks, according to LAFD. Specially trained hazardous materials crews are monitoring air quality as efforts continue to suppress the fire in the ship’s sub-levels.

Marine crews are working to cool the outside of the ship to make conditions on the boat more tenable for firefighting crews. As of 8 p.m., incident command had instructed that no firefighting members go below deck.

At that time progress on containment remained slow, according to LAFD. The ship did not appear to be sinking despite a large amount of water being used to fight the fire.

Drones were being used to acquire thermal imaging of the blaze and assist the emergency response, authorities said.

Earlier in the evening, authorities said six of the boat’s crew members were unaccounted for. At 8:30 p.m., LAFD confirmed that all 23 crew members had been found and safely assisted off the ship. No injuries have been reported.

The U.S. Coast Guard also responded to the incident and established a safety perimeter of one nautical mile around the vessel.

The cargo ship sails under the flag of Panama and arrived in the Port of L.A. on Wednesday after traveling from Tokyo, according to Vessel Finder.

In a statement on X, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said the city is continuing to monitor the incident closely. Gov. Gavin Newsom was briefed on the incident and his office is coordinating with local authorities to support the emergency response, officials said.