Video: Fire Destroys Fishing Vessel at Port of Grandcamp-Maisy

Late on Thursday night, a fire destroyed a trawler at the pier at the French port of Grandcamp-Maisy, a small town in Normandy just west of Omaha Beach. 

Local emergency services reported that the trawler Normandie was ablaze and adrift in the port when they arrived in the early hours of Friday morning. Video from the scene shows the vessel burning vigorously and sending up jets of flame. 

Ten fire engines and 31 firefighters from around the region responded to the emergency, and though other vessels succeeded in returning the trawler to the pier, extinguishing efforts proved challenging due to inaccessible hot spots inside the trawler.

“The firefighters were faced with difficulties in accessing the interior of the ship to reach the residual [hot spots]. In addition, the lack of stability of the ship did not allow [them] to progress in safety, forcing them to adapt their intervention techniques," said the Calvados Departmental Fire and Rescue Service in a statement. 

The burned-out vessel settled on the bottom with the outgoing tide, and the extent of the damage was severe enough that responders were not sure it would refloat.