A Staten Island Ferry operating during the evening rush hour was evacuated in the New York Harbor after a fire broke out in the mechanical room aboard the boat Thursday, an FDNY spokesperson confirmed.
The FDNY was part of a large emergency response to remove passengers -- hundreds, according to emergency transmissions -- from the Sandy Ground boat, a new Ollis class vessel that joined the ferry fleet in June.
Emergency transmissions began at about 5:20 p.m. By 5:55 p.m. the ferry was anchored off the St. George Terminal dock -- in the New York Harbor -- and smaller boats were taking passengers from the ferry to the terminal, according to the spokesperson.
“The boat was driving, everything was smooth, and then a loud beeping started happening,” said Ivan McCall, a passenger on the boat from the Silver Lake area. “We all knew something was wrong, and then the police started scrambling around.”
McCall said there was so much smoke at one point “you couldn’t even see your hands.” (Video: Tom Wrobleski)
