When smoke billowed from a scrap metal barge in the Delaware Bay on Tuesday, March 10, local mariners and residents witnessed what has become an all-too-familiar scene for one metal recycling operation.
The barge, owned by Eastern Metal Recycling, burned for more than 24 hours before crews could extinguish the flames. The Coast Guard received the initial distress call at 8:20 a.m. from the tugboat Douglas J, which was towing the vessel when fire broke out.
Our community watched as the burning barge was towed in large circles off Sunset Beach throughout the day and into Wednesday. The maneuver, according to Steve Newes, senior vice president at Donjon Marine, kept the vessel out of the main navigation channel while responders worked to control the blaze.
Local responders stepped up to help. North Star Marine dispatched its vessel Challenger with a fire pump from Leesburg. Captain Phil Risko said his crew fought the fire for approximately 24 hours before spending another full day escorting the damaged barge back to Camden.
"The entire load was not burning, but parts of it were, and it was producing a lot of smoke," Risko explained. He noted that the Challenger arrived around 5 p.m. to begin suppression efforts.
A Pattern of Fires
This incident marks at least the second time a scrap metal barge owned by Eastern Metal Recycling has caught fire on the Delaware Bay. State officials report the company has experienced at least 12 fires over the past five years.
A strikingly similar event occurred on May 23, 2023, when another EMR barge caught fire just after midnight while heading north on the Delaware Bay. That fire burned for 26 hours, according to a Transportation Research Board report.
The repeated incidents prompted legal action. On January 12, then-Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette announced a public nuisance lawsuit against EMR and its related entities, including EMR Advanced Recycling LLC, EMR USA Holdings Inc., EMR Eastern, and Camden Iron & Metal.
The lawsuit seeks to address "hazardous conditions that have led to numerous fires at their facilities since 2020," according to the joint statement from state officials.
Impact on Communities
While the March 10 barge fire occurred offshore and didn't disrupt Cape May-Lewes Ferry operations, according to Delaware River and Bay Authority communications director James Salmon, fires at EMR's Camden facilities have had serious consequences for nearby residents.
The Camden Waterfront South neighborhood, where EMR operates, is classified as an environmentally overburdened community under New Jersey's Environmental Justice Law. State officials say fires there have "filled nearby streets with smoke and air pollution, creating an ongoing public nuisance that has severely harmed the health and well-being of Camden's residents."
In February 2025, a fire originating in a two-story pile of scrap metal at the Camden facility took 12 hours to extinguish. Approximately 100 residents were evacuated, and illnesses and acute symptoms were reported afterward.
The Attorney General's complaint, filed in Superior Court, asks the court to declare EMR is maintaining a public nuisance and order the company to immediately implement additional fire control measures under DEP oversight. The lawsuit includes 18 specific requests for court action.
As our local responders know all too well, scrap metal fires present unique challenges. They burn intensely, produce heavy smoke, and can take days to fully extinguish—whether they occur on land or at sea.
