Fire Damages Mv. Miss Dorothy; Crew Escapes Injury
No one was hurt when a fire broke out on the mv. Miss Dorothy early March 17, causing major damage.
The 4,200 hp. twin-screw towboat, owned by Western Rivers Boat Management of Paducah, Ky., was at Lower Mississippi River Mile 249 when it caught fire about 2 a.m. The Coast Guard is investigating the fire’s cause, said Petty officer 3rd Class John Michelli, public information officer for the Eighth Coast Guard District.
The seven crew members boarded another boat in the area, Baton Rouge Fire Department Public Information Officer Justin Hill said. The East Baton Rouge Fire Department, along with the St. George Fire Department, responded to the staging area and staffed the East Baton Rouge department’s fire boat and safe boats while East Baton Rouge members piloted them.
The fire departments declared the blaze under control at 8:49 a.m. No hazardous materials were released, Hill said. He added that although all the agencies train together regularly for incidents such as the fire, it was the first fire on the Mississippi River that all agencies have responded to together.
According to the Inland River Record, the mv. Miss Dorothy was built in 1956 by Dravo Corporation, in Neville Island, Pa. It was originally the Eastern and originally owned by Union Barge Line Corporation, Pittsburgh. It was last sold in December 2015 and named the Miss Dorothy in August 2016 by Western Rivers.
