Professional large city firefighters are going to have far more experience fighting fires than ship’s crew. How many mariners have fought more than small fires? I ask at meetings, it’s very few.
Don’t know yet if it was an issue here but the fact that many fire departments in port cities are not well prepared for shipboard firefighting is a well know issue.
https://firerescuemagazine.firefighternation.com/2008/01/31/preparing-for-shipboard-fires/#gref
Marine firefighting is unarguably one of the most challenging of all firefighter disciplines.