Fire Erupts on Ferry Fr. Mychal Judge; FDNY and Ferry Frank Sinatra Rescue Passengers and Crew
Ring-A-Ding-Ding! That’s the sound of an alarm but the fearful looking conflagration in the waters off lower Manhattan was no match for fast, effective fire suppression and everyone chugged home safely.
| 30 Aug 2024 | 03:10
Ferry Father Mychal Judge ablaze, August 29, 2024, with “Lady Liberty” behind. (
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Ferry Father Mychal Judge as seen from FDNY Marine boat (
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The disabled Ferry Father Mychal Judge after passengers and crew were evacuated and it was towed to port in Weehawken, NJ. (
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Black smoke billowing into bright blue sky in late summer—this was the most striking image taken of fire aboard the NYC Waterway ferry Father Mychal Judge on Aug. 28.
The still unexplained engine room blaze broke out at around 4:40 p.m., shortly after the vessel and its 37 passengers departed Pier 11 near Wall Street bound for Paulus Hook in Jersey City.
With flames and smoke coming from the ship’s bow, the ship’s crew contained the fire within a few minutes by sealing off the engine room and using the ship’s extinguishing systems. Meanwhile, another NYC Waterway ferry, the Frank Sinatra, soon arrived and all the passengers were safely transferred over.
There were no reported injuries.
FDNY Marine units, including Marine 1, FDNY Fireboat 343, conducted an evaluation of the Father Mychal Judge and towed it to Weehawken, New Jersey.
One Jersey City resident, Cary Broder, told PIX 11 what he saw aboard the Father Mychal Judge. “I looked behind me, and there were orange flames shooting out of the back of the boat,” Broder said. “Fortunately, everybody really remained calm. Like, people were obviously scared.”
“I was fairly certain we were going to have to jump into the river, actually,” said Broder.
Broder said the fire will not deter him from riding the ferry in the future, but he does have another concern—his bicycle.
“I was a little bit panicked, you know, and there were a bunch of people gathered on there, and you know, I was just trying to get off the boat onto the other one, and then it wasn’t until afterward I realized I was like, oh, you know, my bike’s still on there.”
Built in 2002 by Allen Marine in Sitka, Alakas, the 65-foot-long Father Mychal Judge honors FDNY chaplain Father Mychal Fallon Judge who was posted to St. Francis of Assisi Church on W. 31st St. across from Penn Station,. On September 11, 2001, Father Judge, who had rushed to World Trade Center terror attacks, was in the North Tower of the World Trade Center when the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 A.M.
Harrowing video of the day captured him in his FDNY turnout gear praying the rosary inside the North Tower. Although it was initially thought that Judge died from being struck by debris from the building collapse, it was later learned he died from heart attack. .
A photograph of Father Judge being carried from the North Tower by five men—FDNY Firefighters Christian Waugh and Zachary Vause; NYPD Lt. William Cosgrove; civilian John Maguire and FDNY EMT Kevin Allen—by Reuters lensman Shannon Stapleton is among the most iconic images of the sacrifices of 9/11.
NY Waterways christened the ferry in his honor in March, 2002.