HMCS Protecteur was preparing to be towed to Hawaii Saturday afternoon by the USS Chosin, a U.S. navy cruiser, according to Commodore Bob Auchterlonie, the commander of Canada's Pacific naval fleet.
Auchterlonie said the crisis was over, and galley services, including fresh water, had been restored.
Supplies were being delivered to to the Protecteur using the Chosin's helicopter. Family members who were on the Protecteur were being taken to the USS Michael Murphy, where they will sail safely to Hawaii, said Auchterlonie.
He estimated Protecteur would be back at Pearl Harbor by Tuesday or Wednesday.
The fleet ocean tug USNS Sioux is also heading towards Protecteur to assist in the towing operations if necessary.
A fire in the engine room of the 44-year-old supply ship had left the vessel stranded in the mid-Pacific in heavy seas.
The fire broke out Thursday around 10:20 p.m. PT as the Protecteur was returning from operational duties with nearly 300 on board.
Auchterlonie says about 20 people suffered minor injuries, including dehydration, exhaustion and smoke inhalation.
He called the fire a 'serious event,' because the engine room contained a lot of fuel and combustibles.
HMCS Protecteur
"There was a significant fire and that crew battled that fire over a significant period of time, and they saved the ship, " he said at a briefing Friday at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, west of Victoria.
The fire significantly damaged the machinery that controls the vessel's propulsion system, stranding the ship in the water about 630 kilometres northeast of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The Protecteur is one of two auxiliary oil replenishment ships in the Canadian navy, both launched in 1969.
Auchterlonie said Saturday it was too early to speculate on the cause of the blaze or how the incident would affect the navy's fleet of supply ships.
The Protecteur, which left on Jan. 6 with HMCS Regina, was carrying 279 crew, 17 family members and two civilian contractors. The vessel was returning to B.C. from extended operations with the U.S. navy in the mid-Pacific.
Crew family on board
The Canadian Department of National Defence said earlier that having family members on board for the final part of such a voyage is a common practice with navy ships returning from extended operations and exercises.
The aging Protecteur was damaged last August in a collision with HMCS Algonquin while en route to Hawaii.
The Algonquin sustained the most significant damage in the accident, but the Protecteur also suffered damage to its front end. Both ships were forced to cancel a planned voyage to Australia and instead return to port in Esquimalt for repairs.
The military announced in October that HMCS Protecteur and its sister supply ship on the East Coast, HMCS Preserver, will be retired in 2015.
Construction of new supply ships are expected to begin in late 2016, with a target of having them in service by 2019-20.
