The U.S. Coast Guard responded to a fire aboard the 314-foot catcher-processor Arctic Storm 32 miles outside of Grays Harbor on Monday afternoon.

The vessel reported an uncontrollable engine room fire to the Coast Guard on Monday at 3:20 pm. The catcher processor had 120 crewmembers aboard at the time of the incident.

Coast Guard Sector Columbia issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast to alert mariners of the situation and launcehed two Jayhawk helicopter crews to the scene.

Also sent was a 47-foot motor lifeboat. from Cape Disappointment and two more 47-foot motor lifeboats from Station Grays Harbor.

The crew of the Arctic Storm extinguished the fire using the Halon Chemical Firefighting System aboard the vessel as the Coast Guard helicopters and lifeboats monitored the situation.

Several vessels responded to the scene of the incident, 78 crewmembers were evacuated to the vessels Northern Voyager, Golden Alaska, Sea Dawn, and the Excellence. The remaining 42 crewmembers stayed behind to man the disabled vessel.

The evacuated crewmembers were transported to Westport, Washington.

Meanwhile a tug made way to the scene to take the vessel under tow and transport it to Aberdeen, Washington.

Although the vessel is carrying 188,000 gallons of diesel fuel, there were no reports of pollution discharge or injuries. The Washington Department of Ecology was notified and is standing by.