Any fire fighting experiences that you would like to share?

[studbuzzar]

I just got back from STCW95 firefighting school. What a experience! I have a new respect for the hot stuff and all the possible situations one could get in while working aboard vessels. Anyone had any real experiences with fighting fires aboard a vessel you worked on? How did you put it out and what did you learn? I cant believe I went into fire situations were temps were about 650-750 degress. Thats hotter than my oven!

[mwillmes]

When I was at NOAA we had a captain that would hold drills at the same day at the same time every week thinking that if bells were rung another time you would know that it was the real thing. Lo and behold during my watch at sea the alarm system went off and I think it took me approx 1 1/2 to 2 minutes to get on scene. I was in shock and very amazed to see the entire crew dressed and ready to go. Not a blazing inferno, but an example of the need for weekly drills.

Mark

[drkblram]

studbuzzar, I'll introduce myself to you, I am a (now) former deep sea mate, but I am also a firefighter. 8 years with two different departments. I have responded to numerous fires ashore in that time. I have been lucky to never had experienced a significant fire afloat. I did have the opportunity to speak at length to several officers and crew of a US tanker that suffered a catastrophic engine room fire in 2003, which occurred in the middle of the night. The vessel in question was the M/V PATRIOT, ex-ZAPATA PATRIOT for the old salts in the house. Below is what I came away from the conversations with. Of course, some of these only hold true for an E/R fire like they had, others are more general.

Smoke spreads quickly: like in a high rise building, the smoke will go to the highest level (the bridge) and then start backfilling the decks. The MOW, by the time he realized there was a MAJOR problem, only had time to hit the automatic distress buttons on the GMDSS console, grab the lifeboat radios and flee the bridge. Once on the wing, he immediately activated the EPIRB. (These actions were important). On the senior officers deck, they had to crawl out of the house. Junior officer's deck, they were able to walk out, stooped over. The crew were able to walk out upright.

Know the strengths and weakness of all means of fighting a fire in any major part of the ship. Know how the different fixed systems work, even if your not the one who has to either make the call to use it, nor the one who has to actually deploy it. Also if you use the fixed system in the E/R DO NOT OPEN THE ER!!! They teach that for a good reason. They kept it closed, and the fire stayed out.

Treat all fire alarms as real. take your knife and flashlight with you every time. portable radio too, if you are issued one. Make sure you wear proper foot wear.


Personal advise:

Yeah its pretty cool that your PPE can let you get into some HOT places. The problem is, it can let you go too far. Monitor your air, when you hit the 1/2 mark, start planning your exit strategy. Thats when to call for reliefs. Remember, you have to go back as far as you came.

Always pick the right hose line. 1 2.5" hose will flow more water than 2 1.5" hoses. More than even 2 1.75" hoses. just remember; big fire, big hose. Use the "oh BLEEP" rule. 0 to 1 "oh BLEEP's" is probably a 1.5" fire. 2+ "oh BLEEP's" is a 2.5" fire.

Stay with your partner. Remember the movie TOP GUN? stay with your wingman? same applies in firefighting.

Ok, this is long enough, I'll end with this: practice good fire prevention, and there's a better chance you'll never have to fight a fire. (as my dad, an old time tin can sailor used to say "its a long swim home if you don't put the fire out!")

[dougpine]

I just got back from STCW95 firefighting school. What a experience! I have a new respect for the hot stuff and all the possible situations one could get in while working aboard vessels. Anyone had any real experiences with fighting fires aboard a vessel you worked on? How did you put it out and what did you learn? I cant believe I went into fire situations were temps were about 650-750 degress. Thats hotter than my oven!

I was taking an OSV from Morgan City to sea once, and we were just about to the sea buoy when the AB said there was some smoke coming out of the starboard stack (gulf stacks) and it "didn't look normal". Normal it wasn't. Lots of black smoke pouring out the stack. I rang the general alarm and stuck the boat in the mud. The mate, some crazy Egyptian guy named Mohair or something (maybe some of you sailed with him?), in nothing but his BVDs went flying out on deck and before anyone could do anything, popped the hatch and went below. The was the old HOS "Advocator", a smallish 175' old piece of shit. We had one SCBA on board but the bottles were empty. We secured the ventilation, closed the dampers, and crossed our fingers. I wasn't going to send anyone after him, and I couldn't pull the CO2. After about fiften minutes Mohair came up out of the engine room sputtering and coughing, covered in soot and water, and announced that the fire was out. Something blew up, caught fire, and then the exhaust lagging went up. We headed back to Morgan City for a new engine and a fresh SCBA bottle or two. We left Morgan City two days later with a new engine and no SCBA bottles. Great safety culture in those days.

[john]

I did have the opportunity to speak at length to several officers and crew of a US tanker that suffered a catastrophic engine room fire in 2003, which occurred in the middle of the night. The vessel in question was the M/V PATRIOT, ex-ZAPATA PATRIOT for the old salts in the house. Below is what I came away from the conversations with. Of course, some of these only hold true for an E/R fire like they had, others are more general.

drkblram, that happens to be the first of two ships that suffered catastrophic engine room fires shortly after I signed off. The Patriot fire I missed with luck but it gave me a new perspective on the importance of shipboard firefighting so the next time I witnessed similar problems I reported them to the Designated Person and asked to be relieved. The good news is I was right... 10 days after being pulled off the the vessel the Engine room egnited, a total loss. The bad news is that the stress of knowing my crew was still in danger resulted in a short hospital visit... the company found out and put me on medical leave until I could prove that I was healthy. Since there was nothing wrong with me besides symptoms related to the stress (it's hard to find a problem that doesn't exist) I was "administratively discharged" 6 months later.

The lesson learned is that unless you are a very lucky person (I am not) if you "feel" like something bad is going to happen aboard your ship it probably will unless you take action to fix it.

Of the fires I has fought (all as scene leader), including one very hot thruster room, I was lucky enough to get the spaces contained, a good muster and the boundaries cooled. I never had to send people into a fire and, unless their are victims needing rescue inside, never will. Contain, count (the people) and cool... will solve the problem 90% of the time.

[Capt. Fran]

I just got back from STCW95 firefighting school. What a experience!

What school did you go to?

[studbuzzar]

Port Canaveral Marine Firefighting Academy. It is a two day course as part of STCW training. They also have advanced fire fighting. I would like to take that in the cooler months

[skycowboy]

While at Fire FIghting school in the Navy, I was assigned the applicator and a little 4' guy was given the nozzle.

In the middle of fighting the fire which was a compartment filled with fuel oil, he panicked and hit the nozzle to full stream. He then lost control of it and shot directly into the fuel oil. This cause the oil and flames to try to leave the compartment before the drill was over. Unfortunately the only area available was over our heads. I remember holding the applicator up in front of us in a self defense poster as the flames came rushing at us. I am not sure how they got the nozzle away from him as I had my eyes closed and was praying that I wouldn't die. The lessons to be learned, becareful when you go to Fire Fighting school and may be more dangerous then the real thing.

[studbuzzar]

I agree with that one. We had one guy stay out two nights in a row until 3-4am getting hammered and hitting the girlie bars. He got away with it the first day without any problems. But the second day he stumbled around as the #2 hose man and ended up yanking the hose out of the hands of the one woman in our training class. She ended up with a strained shoulder, but to her credit, gutted out the rest of school. Next revolution, he was sent forward on the hose team to shut the valve on a pipe that was fueling a deck fire on the bow of the ship. Somehow he ended up in front of the water being sprayed on the fire and the fire itself. If it weren't for his bunker gear and quick reacting instructors, he would have been burned badly. All of us were scared shitless after that! We were relieved when they told him to go home! To top it off. that was his last day of training in a twelve week course he was in to prepare him for working in the marine industry.