Fire at Sea – Are you Prepared?

fire on boat in Holland SW

If the fire occurs in a marina the situation from a safety perspective is more like a house fire © SW

Whether you are building a boat, considering purchase of a boat, or considering your own boat from the vantage point of a fire, the issues will be the same, and they are worth taking time to consider. Here we go through some simple steps that will make you comfortable – or otherwise – with your boat's preparedness for this worst of all incidents.

Note: This is not meant to be an exhaustive study, but should either get you started towards making your own decisions as to your fire preparations, or act as a check list against preparations already in place.


Safety aspects of boats:

Construction material:

There are many issues that one considers when one is deciding the material to be used in the construction of the boat.

However, from a fire perspective, a ferro-cement boat must be the best, as it is not combustible and is not a good conductor of heat.

Steel and aluminium are not combustible, but are good conductors of heat and so the vessel can quickly become untenable because of the heat. They are also usually painted, so a fire on one side of a bulkhead can spread rapidly to the other side by setting the paint alight. (Hence an unpainted aluminium boat has more reasons to it than merely aesthetics)

Wood burns, but relatively slowly and it is a bad conductor or heat. Paint, particularly thick paint, adds to the flammability. However, wood in boats is usually damp, and this make the fire easier to contain.

Fibreglass or GRP, though difficult to start, burn very fiercely and give off poisonous fumes. If possible ensure that your GRP boat has a fire inhibitor added to the resin when being moulded. If you have established that there is no fire inhibitor in the boat you already have, be aware that damage to a fibreglass boat would probably be greater than other types of construction because of distortion caused by melting. It would be also difficult to repair at sea.

Furnishings:
Be aware that synthetic materials or cotton are flammable, and the most suitable material for furnishings is probably wool.

Safety fittings:
Think about where to place the dinghy and the life raft, both of which are potential refuges in the awful case of abandonment of the boat. In a perfect world, one of these would be placed aft, and one forward, so that at least one or the other could be reached in the case of a fire. Having a blazing fire between you and your only two escape routes would not be a good outcome at sea.

Cockpit Drains:
If the engine room is below the cockpit, make sure that the cockpit drains that often lead down to skin fittings in either side of the engine are made of copper and have extended spindles for safety. If these are made of plastic, in the case of engine room fire they would melt or burn and the boat would be open to the sea. How could you put your hand into the fire to shut off the valves to stop the water?

Hatches:
It should hardly need saying that you should ensure that all hatches can be easily AND QUICKLY opened from inside the boat, and can never be locked from the outside. Ensure that hatches can be opened with the swing of a handle, not the unscrewing of a locking device. This is of course important for other reasons apart from fire..

Flares:
Flares should never be stowed near any of the fire danger areas of the boat. A pyrotechnic display is not what you need as entertainment while fighting a shipboard fire.

Gas bottle storage:
Make sure that gas bottles have their own compartment away from any of the danger areas of the boat (but especially the engine room and the galley), and that they are well ventilated.

Fire resistant doors and bulkheads:
Consider where to put fire resistant doors and bulkheads so that these can be closed in the case of a fire. Ideally, such doors or bulkheads should have a small removable panel, through which the nozzle of a stirrup pump can be inserted (see Stirrup Pumps below)

Potential Fire Areas and Causes:
The main high risk fire areas at sea are: galleys, engine rooms, paint lockers, switchboards, electrical installations and cabins.

1.Galleys: Galley fires are frequently caused by fat catching fire through overheating, either rain or spray, or (dependent on the type of stove) spillage of alcohol from the tank.

2.Engine Rooms: Engine room fires are frequently caused by a failure of oil pipes, causing fuel to spray on to hot parts of the engine or auxiliaries, oil in the bilges, or by a blockage in the engine cooling system.

3.Paint lockers: Paint locker fires are caused by spontaneous combustion in oily cotton waste left lying about.

4.Switchboards and electrical installations: Fires in switchboards and electrical contacts, these days including televisions, DVD' players and entertainment centre. Fires here are usually caused by faulty connections, insulation and dampness.

5.Cabins: Bed fires are caused by people smoking in bed and going to sleep with a lighted cigarette. The prevention methods are obvious.

Escape Routes:

The first issue is the ability of the crew to escape from the boat, no matter where the fire starts, and no matter where they are positioned at the outbreak of the fire.

Go through the process of considering each of the above outbreak areas in relation to where any member of the crew might be at the time.

One familiar area to watch, for instance, is an engine workshop, which can occasionally only be reached by passing the galley area, and has no other exit point. Not using the engine workshop and the galley at the same time would be the only sure solution for a boat already configured this way.

Another is any boat with a centre cockpit and an aft cabin which can only be reached by passing the engine room and has no extra escape hatch. In case of a fire in the engine room anyone in the aft cabin would be trapped. Then there is the quarter berth that is found in confined space in some boats opposite the engine room door.

When ocean sailing, the dinghy is often stowed before the mast, a very convenient and safe place. However, if the dinghy is stowed over the top of the only escape hatch from a for'd cabin and tied down securely, in the case of a fire between the for'd cabin and the main saloon hatch, escape would be impossible for someone in the for'd cabin.

Methods of Fire Fighting:

Galleys:

Galley fire - usually caused by oil or fat catching alight © SW

Depriving a fire of oxygen is the way to stop any fire, but the ways of doing this are many. Never use water on an oil fire, which is the most frequent fire in a galley. A fire blanket is the fastest way to stop an oil fire in a frying pan, so hanging a fire blanket beside the galley, along with a powder filled fire extinguisher is recommended. The crew member would first throw the fire blanket over the stove to stop the source of the fire, and then use the extinguisher to put out any further blaze.

Engine Room:
Engine Room fires are rarely brought under control by manual fire extinguishers. This is partly because the fire, being in an enclosed space away from view, may go on undetected for some time before it is noticed. It has a good head start. As it burns, undetected, it will