Checking his boats at the Government dock on April 16, longtime Squamish tugboat operator Ted Johnstone looked up and saw the black cloud.
Squamish Terminals was on fire, and after quickly investigating the scene from Nexen Beach, Johnstone and his son Jeremy Johnstone sprang into action.
“It looked like a bomb had gone off,” Ted said of the scene.
He saw the ropes burning on the Star Atlantic ship and his close to 50 years on the sea told him that something had to be done to get the ship out of danger.
“You make a split decision and you go with it,” he said. “I’d do it again. I’ve been in this community for 30 years and wanted to give something back.”
The father and son sped to the scene of the fire on their tug called Wayfarer1 and joined Frank Babuin on the Janelle2. The pair of tugs were then joined by Don Robson and Chris Tamburri on the River Scout. The trio of tugs represent Squamish’s entire fleet, and luckily all three were available to tug Star Atlantic to safety.
“We were pushing for about 30 minutes but it was very dangerous out there,” Johnstone said. “Even standing in the wheelhouse of the tug you could hardly breathe. The fire was blowing big chunks and charcoal through the air and it was just plain bad.”
After the trio of tugs successfully led Star Atlantic to safe waters, Johnstone and his son spotted Tiger Shark – a dock assist tug owned by Smit Contracting in Vancouver. They made the decision to return back to Squamish Terminals to also rescue Tiger Shark.
“My son jumped off our tug to untie Tiger Shark from the dock and the air was just awful,” he said. “The air was totally black and whenever you took a breath you took in a lungful of this black crap.”
Johnstone said Tiger Shark likely had gallons of oil on board and it would have been a disaster had it caught on fire.
“All the oil on there would have ignited and caught fire and no one would have wanted to face that in Squamish,” he said. “It would have made that oil spill in Vancouver look like a pop can full of oil – it would have been a huge disaster.”
He said it took a while, but Wayfarer1 tugged Tiger Shark to safety.
“I knew we could push it but it wouldn’t be fast,” he said, laughing. “That tug has horsepower of 1800, mine is 240. We moved it but I knew there wouldn’t be any waterskiing going on. But it worked out fine.”
He said he received thanks from Squamish Terminals and Smit Contracting, but he’s still a little sick from inhaling all that bad air.
“I’m still coughing up all this black crap from all the creosote,” he said.
Johnstone praised the work of the Vancouver fire boat and first responders but said a fireboat in Squamish isn’t necessary.
“I’ve been here 30 years and have never seen anything like that before,” he said. “It was a freak accident – I don’t believe any more dead skin should collect wages for nothing. I’ve seen a lot of that in this town over the years.”
Johnstone will return to maintaining his fleet of 11 boats but said he will never forget the Squamish fire and the day his little tug potentially saved the town.
