A fire broke out aboard a 12-metre tender at Port Hercule on Friday morning, August 7, triggering a major security operation but leaving no injuries, as Monaco’s port services, Maritime Police and Fire Brigade worked quickly to prevent the blaze from spreading to the motor yacht it was moored alongside.
The tender was docked at the stern of its associated motor yacht, at the far end of Quai Rainier Ier Grand Amiral de France, when the fire broke out. According to the Société d’Exploitation des Ports de Monaco (SEPM), the cause of the blaze has not yet been determined. The alarm was raised simultaneously by the harbour master’s office and members of the yacht’s crew, prompting an immediate response. As the flames intensified, initial emergency measures were activated and Port Hercule was closed off with support from the Division de la Police Maritime et Aéroportuaire, while the Direction des Affaires Maritimes was also notified.
One of the most delicate moments of the operation involved preventing the fire from spreading to the motor yacht itself. As the larger vessel’s onboard firefighting systems were activated, SEPM teams, quickly joined by crews from the Yacht Club de Monaco, managed to move the burning tender away from the yacht, relocating it to a clear stretch of quay roughly thirty metres to the east. That manoeuvre allowed Monaco’s Fire Brigade, both its land and marine units, to take over operations shortly after arriving on scene and continue tackling the blaze under safer conditions. A westerly wind also helped by carrying smoke out to sea rather than back toward the port. Crews additionally deployed a containment barrier around the tender to capture the firefighting foam used during the operation and prevent it from spreading into the harbour’s waters.
Olivier Lavagna, General Director of the Société d’Exploitation des Ports de Monaco, praised the speed of the port teams’ response, highlighting both their professionalism and the effectiveness of the measures taken from the earliest moments of the emergency. The incident also served as a real-world test of procedures developed through the various services’ annual joint training exercises, with the SEPM noting that this preparation allowed the correct alert and coordination mechanisms to be applied quickly once a genuine emergency arose.
What caused the fire remains to be determined. The SEPM has announced it will hold a debrief to review the incident and assess any lessons that can be drawn from how the response was handled.