A Jan. 12 fire on a barge carrying junk cars and scrap metal forced a temporary traffic closure in the Mobile Shipping Channel south of the Africatown Bridge, the Coast Guard said.
Coast Guard Sector Mobile responded to the first fire report and closed the channel between mile markers 2 and 4. A Coast Guard incident management team, the Gulf Strike Team, and the Coast Guard cutter Stingray were on scene, along with Mobile Fire and Rescue.
The barge was not in transit at the time of the fire. Video broadcast by Fox10 News in Mobile showed a towboat pushing the barge as a fire boat sprayed a burning heap on the vessel…