DIRECT ATTACK ON CABIN FIRES IN SMALL COMMERCIAL VESSELS PART 1
The following is the first of two articles.
Fighting a fire aboard a ship can be very dangerous for structural firefighters. It is virtually impossible for land-based fire departments to be intimately familiar with each vessel visiting their jurisdiction, and a shipboard fire cannot be approached with the level of aggression appropriate for a fire in a single-family dwelling. Since shipboard fires are rare in relation to structure fires, it is unlikely that veteran firefighters will have the same valuable data bank of practical experience for aggressively attacking a shipboard fire as they do for attacking a structure fire.
A lower deck of a vessel becomes a very hazardous confined area under fire conditions. Operations in close quarters below deck require specialized strategy, tactics, and precautions.
This article focuses on cabin fires aboard relatively small vessels and examines several size-up factors that apply to ships of all sizes and how these factors influence strategy and tactics. A thorough size-up and correct strategy and tactics are vitally important but in themselves do not ensure the safety and effectiveness of fire companies operating aboard a ship. A safe and successful operation also requires a fireground organization that provides for the safety of personnel facing one of the most difficult challenges of firefighting—a shipboard fire.
Photo by Ed Brown.
THE PUNISHING TASK
Most large commercial vessels are built and maintained to international, if not American, fire and life safetystandards. Serious fires on large ships are relatively rare, in part because the required detection and suppression systems enable their trained crews to extinguish most fires in the incipient phase. One of the most prominent features of fire protection in the construction of large vessels is the presence of transverse watertight and fire resistive bulkheads. These bulkheads strengthen the ship’s hull against the forces of the sea and limit the extent of flooding water. The bulkheads also may serve as fire walls, dividing the vessel into main vertical zones, which help to confine a fire and present suppression and rescue personnel with the opportunitv to access the fire compartment horizontally or from below, avoiding the stairway leading down into the fire, which quickly can become a chimney of rising smoke and heat.
However, it would be overly optimistic to expect that the lower deck accommodations of most coastal freighters, work boats, and fishing trawlers—smaller commercial vessels—would be divided into separate vertical zones. Reaching a fire on a lower deck on these vessels may require firefighters to endure a column of smoke and heat rising up the only stairway available to take down to the fire. A lower deck of older vessels may have as many as 10 small cabins opening onto a narrow, dead-end passageway leading to a single ladder (stairs). This type of vessel may be equipped with an escape trunk (vertical ladder leading to an overhead hatch), but it is too small to allow a firefighter equipped with SCBA to pass through. Tight, confined quarters and access/egress ways are typical characteristics of the smaller vessel.
Search and rescue on the lower decks of small vessels can be as difficult as fire suppression. If accommodations are not divided into separate zones, there may be no area of refuge in which to drag an unconscious victim or injured firefighter. Rescue under these conditions can be impossible unless firefighters can devise a way to get an incapacitated person up the steep and narrow ladder that leads to an upper deck. (See “A Hauling System That’s ‘Quick and Dirty,’ ” Fire Engineering, May 1993 )
Living areas on lower decks have little, if any, natural ventilation. Air exchange is provided by powerful ventilation systems that can intensify a fire as well as spread smoke and heat. One foam rubber mattress burning in a cabin is enough to smoke up lower decks to a point of zero visibility.
SIZE-UP
It is common knowledge that sizeup begins with the receipt of the alarm. Everyone responding to a report of a ship fire must he mentally prepared for what may be encountered, based on the information provided on dispatch.
(Photos by author unless otherwise specified.)
- The street address indicates a particular dock, marine terminal, or repair facility and the sizes and types of vessels commonly present.
- Responding personnel already should be thoroughly familiar with any terminal at which petroleum products or hazardous materials are transferred or stored.
- Facilities at which ships are repaired are likely places for serious fires. The potential for fire is never greater and a vessel is never more vulnerable to fire spread than during repairs or renovations. Hot work (welding and cutting) is a leading cause of shipboard fires. A welder’s torch can start a fire by conducting heat through steel bulkheads and decks to combustible insulation, furnishings, or storage. Sparks and hot slag can ignite a smoldering fire that breaks out after workers have left for the day. Vapors from fuel residue have caused explosions when hot work was carried out in spaces that had not been certified gas-free by a marine chemist. These incidents would be much more frequent if not for the inspections and hot-work permits administered by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Drawings illustrate general arrangement of 1950s – 1960s vintage cargo ships, 150 to 300 feet in length, 30to 40-foot beam. Vessels of this design, constructed in Europe, have the following general similarities:
- Two decks: main and lower crew accommodation
- Small cabins, generally arranged around the engine casing
- Lower deck accessed by single ladder (stair)
- Due to extensive modifications over the years by several owners:
— Narrow passageway around engine casing is usually dead end
— Exact arrangement is probably not reflected in outdated plans
No agency, however, can possibly make sure that the crew of every ship complies with regulations and has the common sense to recognize the hazards of welding and cutting. Any compartmentation afforded by bulkheads and decks will be violated by hoses, ductwork, and cords run through open hatches and doors. Firefighters responding to a facility where ships are repaired must anticipate some serious hazards. Oxygen and acetylene tanks and hoses can be found throughout the ship. Anticipate early failure of cylinders and hoses from flame contact or conducted heat. It is not uncommon to find large sections of deck plating cut away to facilitate the replacement of equipment from the engine room. Firefighters operating in heavy smoke can fall victim to this “man trap.” The hazards of repairs or renovations are not confined to dry docks and shipyards. All ships will at some time conduct repairs involving hot work while in port, often without the same attention to safety that is the policy of most professional repair facilities.
First-arriving officers can begin their on-scene size-up by observing the following factors before leaving their vehicles:
- type and size of vessel;
- relative age —riveted hull construction probably indicates a pre1960 vintage vessel with a heavy fire load of wood interior furnishing;
- amount, color, and location of smoke;
- exposures and/or obstructions — such as cranes, forklifts, dock structures, warehouses, shipping containers, fuel tanker trucks, fuel barges, and other vessels—moored nearby; and
- water supply sources and obstacles, including hydrant locations, drafting sites, wharf hydrants, hose cabinets, and congested areas necessitating long hand stretches of hose to reach the vessel.
(Bottom photo by Ed Brown.)
Marine terminals and shipyards tend to be very congested places. All but the first-arriving fire department unit should stage to avoid blocking the access route to the ship. Limited dock space next to the ship may have to be reserved for incoming ladder apparatus. Carefully analyze size-up factors before positioning apparatus.
Information (or lack of it) provided by the ship’s crew and dock workers is a vital element of size-up. What they tell you and don’t tell you can strongly influence overall strategy and determine how rapidly it can be carried out. Following are some of the major questions that should be answered:
- What’s burning?
- What caused the fire?
- Where is the fire, and how can it be reached?
- What activities were taking place when the fire was discovered: cargo loading, bunkering (fueling), welding, starting an engine, or repairing a fuel line?
- Are all crew members and dock workers accounted for?
- Where are possible victims?
- What are the types and locations of hazardous cargo?
- Where are the oxygen and acetylene sets?
- What action has the crew taken or is it taking to control the fire? For example, did crew members activate CO2 or halon flooding systems, shut down ventilation fans, close vent duct dampers, secure fuel to engines, and close doors and hatches to the fire area?
- Has the crew started fire and bilge pumps?
- Have crew members established boundaries surrounding the fire area?
Information gathered from the crew can be very valuable, but it also can be inaccurate and pitifully incomplete, especially in an international port. Foreign crews who have difficulty communicating in English under normal conditions can find it impossible to correctly answer all the questions in the stress and confusion of an emergency. Cultural differences compound a language barrier; a firefighter may be perceived as a threat to a foreigner who is intimidated by anyone wearing a uniform. The muchneeded cooperation of the ship’s crew could be further strained by complications involving illegal aliens or the attitude of a crew under the sovereignty of a foreign flag.
Examine the vessel’s fire plan before sending personnel into a smoky unknown. The ship’s plans are supposed to be stored in a weatherproof container outside the deck house adjacent to the gangway. Legible and accurate plans—although not always available—can tell firefighters the layout of lower decks, how to reach the fire, where to ventilate, and where to secure ventilation. They also can help identify areas surrounding the fire that must be examined and cooled to prevent the fire from extending by conduction through decks and bulkheads (setting fire boundaries).
SETTING UP
As officers are gathering information, firefighters can begin establishing a water supply and gaining access to the vessel. ladder apparatus can serve as additional gangways, and their prepiped waterways are an expedient means of getting a manifold on board to supply handlines. Aerial and portable ladders must be carefully raised and continuously monitored. A vessel may begin to list in reaction to the free-surface effect of firefighting water (the flowing of the accumulated firefighting water from one side of the vessel to the other). A ladder may fall or be damaged by listing or wave action of the vessel. The effectiveness of aerial apparatus depends on placing the ladders close to the ship, which often is impossible.
Dockside obstacles may require firefighters to hand-stretch hundreds of feet of hose to supply a manifold for handlines. Ships are equipped with an international shore connection to enable the shoreside fire department to augment the on-board fire-main system (see “Fire in the Hold: Shipboard Drill,” Eire Engineering, April 1992).
Stretching hose from a ship’s firemain outlet is fast and easy compared with the effort involved in bringing fire department hoselines aboard. Fire officers, however, must question the reliability of the ship’s pumps, piping, and hose. They must weigh the advantage of speed in using a ship’s fire main against the dependability of using their own hose supplied directly from fire department pumpers. When vessels are relatively small, there should be no question: The fire and boundaries readily can be covered with fire department hoselines, wyed off from a manifold supplied by a firedepartment pumper.
Part 2 will discuss access, confinement, attack tactics, and safety.
