We have shown you the video game Ship Simulator 2008, a “realistic” (we haven’t tested this claim) simulator game for your PC, but today we point you towards another product from the company Vstep; RescueSim. Here’s the short description from the RescueSim website;
RescueSim allows emergency response teams to prepare for incidents in a virtual working environment. Under the guidance of your own instructor, any incident can be realistically simulated. Crews experience the incident as they would in real life. They determine the best response strategy, implement it and then observe the consequences of their decisions.
The training platform can be supplemented with industry-specific training modules that include environments, scenarios and equipment relevant to that industry. Today, modules exist for Ports; developed with the Port of Rotterdam and Rotterdam Harbour Fire Department, it includes training incident scenarios with various vessels and industrial fires.
While we still recommend any organization in need of this type of training contact our friend Tom Guldner at Marine Firefighting Institute, we look forward to learning more about this product.
If any gCaptain readers have experienced Ship Simulator 2008 or RescueSim, please let us know what you think!
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Tags: · emergency_response_teams, Firefighting, fire_department, guldner, industrial_fires, industry_specific_training, Marine Technology, marine_firefighting, response_strategy, rotterdam_harbour, scenarios, ship_simulator, ship_simulator_2008, video_game, working_environment
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
Prior to using a fixed fire system, especially CO2, always have a full muster! Why? This Navy video shows the inside view of what happens when this deadly gas is released.
How about when a 75lbs bottle explodes:
Why not to use CO2 on a Class D fire:
Some facts from the EPA: [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · carbon_dioxide, co2_extinguishers, electrical_cabinet, Firefighting, fire_extinguishing, fire_suppressant, fire_system, health_effects, inhalation, MSC, oxygen_level, routine_inspection, small_spaces, unconsciousness, Video, youtube
You have a PASS Device for your shipboard fire team..right?? Why not break it out of the gear locker during confined space entries?
For those who have never seen one, a PASS device (sometimes called a Man Down Alarm) contains a motion sensor and high pitched alarm. The firefighter clips it on his bunker gear and if he passes out the motion detector senses his lack of movement and sets off the alarm. It also has a panic button that can be pushed to inform the scene leader the team is in trouble or to help the back-up team locate a lost firefighter.
We all know how unreliable UHF radios are during tank inspections. While the old trick of banging a wrench 1 time to signal OK, 2 times to signal GET OUT and 5+ times to signal SEND HELP works inside the tank it won’t an unconsciousness victim. At a cost of around $225 these devices are an inexpensive way to protect your life. [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Confined Space, confined_space, Firefighting, Marine Technology, space_entries, tank_inspections, tips
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).
Our story does start on a cruise ship with the third engineer officer on watch. He was diligently writing in his logbook in the ECR. He glanced up at the window to the engineroom and noticed (tah-dah!) flames coming from between two of the main diesel engines. He followed proper procedure (Note: this is one of the few times in this story that proper procedures are followed) and informed the bridge to take control of the plant. The second officer, on the bridge, immediately complied with the request (like he had a choice?). The third engineer stopped the engines.
He (the third engineer) then entered the engineroom alone, with a damp cloth over his face. No, I’m not kidding. He saw the flames earlier, but had this wild craving to disregard his personal safety and he wanted to get to know this fire better. He then found his two assistants, and a motorman, and a wiper (Is it just me or doesn’t anyone pass the word for a fire anymore? Maybe their ships instruction states that you have to tell everyone personally.). Anyway, they all evacuated the engineroom together. They then woke the chief engineer (Mind you, obviously no word for a fire has been passed. I know this is a cruise ship, but come on). [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Firefighting, YOUblog
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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Tags: · Container Ship, emma, emma-maersk, emma_maersk, fire, Fire Incidents, Firefighting, Interesting, largest, maersk, Marine Incidents, marine_firefighting, Photo, photos, Shipyard, Video
Like It Or Not; It’s Here
Fighting LNG Ship Fires
Originally Published Sept 2007
By Tom Guldner, Marine Firefighting Inc.
First, let me state that this article is neither FOR nor AGAINST Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) in the USA. Its purpose is to understand what it is and how the vessels crew and Land-Based Firefighters and first responders can deal with emergencies. Opponents of LNG have come up with many false statements about the dangers of LNG while the LNG industry may lead us to believe there is absolutely no danger in handling LNG. We as firefighters (marine or land-based) and as the mariners who work with the LNG vessels must look at this issue in a more unbiased view. Anything is dangerous if used improperly. Even water has been found to be the culprit of many devastating oil tanker explosions when used under pressure to clean the vessels tanks. The static electric charge the water builds up can create a spark which can rip apart a huge oil tanker. We have also seen that water has caused many vessels to capsize and sink when too much of it has accumulated aboard a ship during firefighting operations.
My company, Marine Firefighting Inc., has been involved in providing informational seminars to the tug boat crews who have the task of escorting some of the large LNG ships into US waters. The tug boats being used are specially designed for this task. Each is equipped with state of the art firefighting equipment. MFI has been providing the familiarization with this new firefighting equipment and also familiarization with the properties of the LNG they will be working with.
Much controversy surrounds the Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) industry in the United States. A good deal of the criticism comes from the “Not in my back yard” syndrome. Most of us realize that our energy needs will soon outpace our supplies. With new emerging economies such as China and India the world’s existing oil reserves are going to be drawn upon much more than at any time in our history. LNG has been presented as one of the answers of bridging the eminent energy gap between users and suppliers. However, no one wants to live next door to an LNG plant.
What is LNG? Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) is a colorless, odorless, liquid which is natural gas in a liquid form. Previously, the world’s large supplies of natural gas have not been available to areas remote from these gas wells. The cost of shipping natural gas in its gaseous state was simply too expensive. Liquefying natural gas reduces its volume 600 times (see diagram left.). Because of this reduction in volume it became profitable to export natural gas in its liquid form (LNG). The process of liquefying natural gas differs from the liquefying of other gasses. The main difference is that LNG does not require pressurization to keep this gas in a liquid state as is the case with Liquid Petroleum Gases (LPG) such as Propane. (Marine transport of Propane may use refrigeration to reduce its pressure during transit.) LNG is formed by subjecting natural gas to extremely cold temperatures. At minus 260 degrees F (-161°C ) the gas becomes a liquid at atmospheric pressure. Liquids at these temperatures are considered “Cryogenic”.1 [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Firefighting, liquid-natural-gas, LNG, lng-tankers, marine-firefighting, natural-gas, ship-fires, Ships
I don’t have many pictures of my father but I recently ran across one posted on the website of his fire company “Rescue 3“. Following Vietnam and the Physician Assistant program at Cornell he joined the Fire Department of New York and was soon accepted into the department’s elite company Rescue 3.
These were the “War Years” and the Bronx was burning. He didn’t talk much about the fires so when he did I hung on every word. One day he was discussing the severity of the situation in the Bronx with an out of state firefighter and said “How many massive, fully engulfed fires with multiple casualties have you seen in your career? There were weeks I saw 5 or 6 per night!”.
What does this have to do with Marine Firefighting? [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · agent_orange, Communication, disoriented, elite_company, fdny, fighting_fires, firefighter, Firefighting, fire_company, marine_firefighting, mayday, professional_firefighters, rescue_3, tips, vietnam
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
Should Have Used the Grits
By The Artful Blogger
Hi kids! This is part two of my ways to put some spice into your fire drills and maybe . . . just maybe, you might have a little fun. I promised special effects, which or course, reminds me of a story:
I live in a great neighborhood. I couldn’t ask for better neighbors if I had ordered them from the Sears catalog. Most of them are either retired or past military, so we’re just like family. I have a guy who lives a couple of doors down. His name is Jack. He’s a great guy, but he has one small problem. It seems that every time he comes in contact with any sort of tool, we’re taking him to the emergency room. I mean, even Tim the Tool Man would be scared of this guy. One weekend, we were all outside doing the lawn-thing, when Jack approached me. I could tell by the look on his face that he had a project in mind. It seemed that Jack had a fire ant problem and wanted to know how to kill them. Living in Florida, this is a common occurrence, so I was quick with my response. I told him to use raw grits. He looked at me funny. Believe it or not, this actually works. Well Jack, being from Michigan, only had instant grits (It’s a northern-thing). I told him that instant wouldn’t work. I was going to refer him to some commercial-type ant killers when my other neighbor, Frank, piped in. He told him to use gasoline. (Frank’s a crusty old retired Vietnam Vet, so you can see the logic.) As Jack scurried away with his new-found information, I gave Frank a look like, “You know better than to do that.” Having finished my yard work, I retied to the house for baseball and my favorite malt beverage. Little did I know what events would transpire next.
Jack took his little half gallon gas can over to the ant mound and poured a liberal amount of petrol onto it. After striking a stick match (mind you, the only smart thing he did was to use a stick match), he tossed it onto the mound. A small one foot flame briefly flared up and quickly died down to a few inches. What Frank neglected to tell Jack was that was all the fire he needed to perform the extermination. Jack thought to himself, “Is that it? Maybe I need more gas.” (OK kids, here’s where it gets good!) Jack tips the little gas can over the open flame from about three feet up. The gas dumps down onto the flame. (Can you guess what happens next? No, jack couldn’t either.) The flame traveled up the pouring gasoline and this ramjet with conviction shot out of the nozzle of his tiny gas can (After all, it’s not the size, but how you use it). The thing was like a flame thrower. So, what does our hero do? He starts violently shaking the can, trying to put out the flame. Instead of extinguishing it, he sprays fuel all over his lawn. Now, half his lawn is on fire . . . and his curbside mailbox . . . and his wife’s flower garden . . . and the left front tire of his wife’s Buick.
I hear a knock at my door. It’s Frank. [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Artful Blogger, Firefighting, marine-firefighting, ship fire
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