CNN has the story:
Officials say it could take a week to extinguish a massive fire that burned Friday afternoon at a fuel storage complex in Puerto Rico, sending a thick black cloud of smoke over large parts of metro San Juan.
“I didn’t expect to see a mushroom cloud from my house,” said Justin Gehrke, who lives 4 miles from the refinery.
Eleven fuel tanks at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. facility in the city of Bayamon, near San Juan, were ablaze, Gov. Luis Fortuno said. Firefighters were trying to cool the remaining 29 to keep them from igniting, he said. [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · explosion, fire, oil, Video
One of the worst things that can happen on board any vessel at sea is a main space Bravo fire. If you’re in charge of your Damage Control organization, you may have asked yourself if your organization have what it takes to combat such a casualty. Do they realize what coordinated efforts have to happen in order to give this story a happy ending, or is it simple irony that we end each scenario with an Abandon Ship exercise?
As a damage control leader, you should be constantly on the lookout for better ways to train your fire parties. This training should be as realistic as possible (in other words, just short of setting an actual fire). Your organization should be in constant critique and review, asking yourself a simple question: “Is it good enough, or can I make it better?” The best way to do this is called “Assets and Deficits.” Using this process, we’ll take a step-by-step look at a main space Bravo fire.
You have a fuel leak in the engine room. The leak increases, causing an atomized spray pattern onto an extremely hot engine manifold. The fuel smokes and becomes a combustible mixture in the atmosphere. The leak increases more. Excess fuel has pooled onto the deck and is running down into the bilge. Finally, the fire triangle has balanced enough to start sustained combustion. You now have a fire with an extremely large source feeding it.
Think how you would fight this fire aboard your ship. Think about your assets and deficits, then visit Part 2 of this story: “Discovery.”
This series was written by Timothy Ciciora, Command Master Chief USN, Retired, Atlantic Beach, Florida, author of short stories, including “The Homecoming,” the opening selection in the Marlo Thomas best selling collection, The Right Words at the Right Time – Volume 2
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Tags: · damage control, fire, Firefighting, marine-firefighting, tips
We are still debating whether this guy was using a flashlight, LED or his cell phone to check the level of this tank but we are certain it wasn’t Intrinsically Safe!
Shell Gas Station Explosion [1:51m]:
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Emma Maersk
The Emma Maersk is a true Modern Marvel. She is the world’s largest container ship, longest ship currently in service and is propelled by the largest diesel engine ever manufactured. By mid-year 2006 the construction project was going well when on June 9th the accommodation block was devastated by fire. [Continue Reading →]
Emma Maersk Shipyard Fire - Largest Containership in the world [1:27m]:
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Today’s Incident Photo Of The Week is the tugboat “The Carrie”. News 6 in Corpus Christi tells us:
A tugboat caught fire at about 7 a.m. Tuesday after pushing a barge from Ingleside to Rincon Channel to offload some diesel fuel and brine water.
Port of Corpus Christi Assistant Chief Tom Mylett said that when it came into the channel, the captain of “The Carrie” discovered a flash fire in the engine room.
The barge’s contents were the biggest concern.
“It was 500 gallons of diesel fuel, from what we understand, that was on the barge, that was set for delivery inside Rincon. Then, there were several other drums you have on your footage of brine water; nonflammable material,” Mylett said.
There was also an additional 500 gallons of fuel on the tugboat.
Luckily no one was injured. Click HERE for the full story and HERE for the video. (via Maritime Monday 129)
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Reuters tells us:
Sep 18 – A fire on a Russian warship in the Pacific kills two sailors, the latest in a series of accidents that have raised doubts about the safety of Russia’s fleet. The fire occurred on the large anti-submarine ship the Marshal Shaposhnikov. Navy officials said they suspected the fire broke out in the engine room when an oil pipe ruptured during a naval exercise in the Sea of Japan.
This is undoubtely an embarissing incident for the Russian Navy as it gears up for a show of force in America’s backyard. Is the Monroe doctrine still in effect? We are not so sure considering the Roosevelt Coorelerary was based, in part, on the idea to “Speak softly and carry a big stick”! An idea that today’s politicians seem to have forgotten.
Either way, wth Russia increasing military spending by over 25%, China building Ballistic Missile Submarines and the US Navy’s inability to defend their own most valuable assets, the waters may soon be less safe for the average mariner.
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The Windoc blocks the canal. Alex Howard
In August 2001 the Bulk Carrier Windoc was lined up on the Welland Canal’s Bridge 11 in Ontario Canada. After recieving the flashing amber approach light indicating that the bridge operator was aware of the vessel the captain lined up on the centerline and maintained a speed of 5 knots. Minutes later while the vessel was half way through the bridge started descending.
The Bridge Team’s Story
When the vessel was approximately halfway under the bridge, the third officer observed that the bridge signal lights were solid red and the lift span was descending. At 2053, the master sounded a few blasts on the ship’s whistle. The master, without identifying himself or the bridge in question, called the TCC on VHF channel 14 about the lowering of the bridge. The master quickly stopped the engines and ordered an evacuation of the wheelhouse.The master and third officer left the wheelhouse by the starboard navigation bridge wing. As they proceeded down the external bridge access ladder, the span of the bridge struck the vessel in way of the wheelhouse front windows, subsequently destroying the vessel’s wheelhouse and funnel. The wheelsman remained at his station in the wheelhouse and lay down on the deck as the bridge span passed overhead. He freed himself from the debris and descended by the deckhouse stairwell alive.
Miraculously no one was killed in the event. [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Bridges, canada, cargo ship, collision, damage photo, death, fire, Firefighting, ntsb, ship, ship photo, ship photographs, survival, windoc, youtube
Bravo on My Watch
By The Artful Blogger
I review shipboard incidents every day. It’s what I write about. Unfortunately, there’s plenty of material out there. The other day, something came across my desk. At first, I thought it someone’s idea of a joke. “Artful,” I said to myself, “There is no way that this really happened.” It was then I came to the realization that this paper was no joke . . . this actually happened . . . and , well I’ll just share this little tidbit with you and you can blog for yourself. Of course, I left out the names to protect the guilty. I’m just going to reflect on the high points of the story (mainly because it’s the most interesting part!).
Once upon a time, there was this cruise ship that went out for a three hour tour. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was . . . (Oops. Sorry, wrong story). [Continue Reading →]
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After a brief hiatus we return to a popular gCaptain feature “Incident Photo Of The Week“. This weeks photo is the aftermath of a 2002 fire aboard the M/V Hanjin Pennsylvania. The reason for the damage? A container filled with fireworks! CargoLAw.com tells us;
Hanjin Pennsylvania fire “has gutted accommodation & engine room” At least 6 rows of containers on deck & under deck have been effected by the blaze, which is understood to have started in a container carrying fireworks & spread to engulf the area immediately forward of the superstructure. But as the ship continues to burn, and salvage crews are still hampered in their attempts to board the vessel to carry out firefighting operations, experts are already suggesting the likely cause of the explosion was not a container full of fireworks.
CLICK HERE for the dramatic photo of the actual explosion then visit the newly redesigned CargoLaw website for the details; Page 1, Page 2, Page 3
[Continue Reading →]
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gCaptain received the above photo via our gCaptain Tip Line. Here is the official news on the incident from PEMEX;
MEXICO: PEMEX confirmed that a fire occurred on the Kab 101 platform on Nov. 13. The fire was caused by a spark generated during repair work to control the natural gas leak that began on Oct. 23. No one was injured. The fire later was extinguished in the Kab 121 well.
Meanwhile, work continues to clean the oil spilled during the original incident on Oct. 23. An overflight revealed that the oil has traveled about 125 kilometers (78 miles). Another overflight will take place next week to monitor the progress of the clean-up. Click to continue…
Our tipster also suggested that fatalities occurred despite PEMEX’s denial of any injuries. We have not confirmed any of the above comments and have already made one mistake related to this incident so if you have information or links this please write a comment below.
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Tags: · fire, Fire Incidents, kab_101, Offshore, oil_rig, oil_spill, pemex, Photo, rig
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