Liveaboard fire

[Diver With Altitude]

He thought it was a drill.

I don’t think so. He was referring to a previous drill where the crew intentionally used smoke to simulate a fire.

In this case:

There was already a lot of smoke in the passageways and cabin.

He knew it was an emergency.

 

[Joneill]

I did, in fact I quoted the whole sentence. Yes, diesel engines are smokey, but not leaky.

Actually, you did NOT quote the whole sentence. If you had, perhaps you would have noticed that it was obviously talking about diesel smoke (exhaust) and not fuel. Here is the FULL sentence and the last part I bolded makes it pretty clear as to what was intended:

Many a boat spews diesel from cold engines and it was a windy day so I thought the wind was blowing back the exhaust.

 

[DandyDon]

Actually, you did NOT quote the whole sentence.

Yep, I did, in sections. Got the photo. And "Many a boat spews diesel from cold engine" is not the same thing as diesel smoke. I don't guess that you have ever operated a cotton stripper (harvester), but there is a lot sparking going on when the row units eat rocks, and there is no way that diesel leaks could be tolerated around all of that cotton being blown by fans into overhead baskets larger than a dorm room. We've had fires in strippers and buggies, which lead to immediate dumping of loads in the field, then machine inspections looking for smolders. Certainly to be avoided.

 

[Joneill]

Yep, I did, in sections. Got the photo. And "Many a boat spews diesel from cold engine" is not the same thing as diesel smoke. I don't guess that you have ever operated a cotton stripper (harvester), but there is a lot sparking going on when the row units eat rocks, and there is no way that diesel leaks could be tolerated around all of that cotton being blown by fans into overhead baskets larger than a dorm room. We've had fires in strippers and buggies, which lead to immediate dumping of loads in the field, then machine inspections looking for smolders. Certainly to be avoided.

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Sorry - your cotton stripper tangent is irrelevant.

If you take the whole sentence as it was written, it’s one thought and seems clear it meant spewing deisel smoke - otherwise why would they continue the sentence to say they thought it was the wind blowing back the exhaust?? Spewing diesel fuel would not cause exhaust to blow back in the wind…

Regardless, a terrible situation - but luckily everyone got off safely and a good reminder to keep a ditch bag and life vest close at hand while on a liveaboard.

 

[DandyDon]

Sorry - your cotton stripper tangent is irrelevant.

Yeah, how many diesel power machines have you driven? "spews diesel from cold engines" is not an accepted occurrence.

 

[Dan]

I don’t think so. He was referring to a previous drill where the crew intentionally used smoke to simulate a fire.

In this case:

He knew it was an emergency.

We’ll, I was on Scuba Scene in December 2019. They didn’t use smoke to simulate emergency. May be in more recent trips. I would think it would be too much of a hassle from tired guests who just arrive from long travel like I did back then to simulate such smoke.

 

[ReefHound]

This seems particularly ill-advised on a burning boat.

And this is only one reason why:

There should be life vests and other floatation devices on deck.

Some LOBs keep your life jackets in a cabinet in your room. I would agree that you should not enter the cabins after an alarm has sounded so they do need to be accessible from outside. There are pros and cons though. If they are in your cabin, at least you can put eyes on them and know there is one for you (if two people per cabin) versus not really knowing for sure if there are any life jackets until you actually need them and then hope there are enough. Still, the threat of entering a confined area that may be on fire is so high that they need to be outside.

 

[Belzelbub]

Some LOBs keep your life jackets in a cabinet in your room. I would agree that you should not enter the cabins after an alarm has sounded so they do need to be accessible from outside. There are pros and cons though. If they are in your cabin, at least you can put eyes on them and know there is one for you (if two people per cabin) versus not really knowing for sure if there are any life jackets until you actually need them and then hope there are enough. Still, the threat of entering a confined area that may be on fire is so high that they need to be outside.

Yeah, I agree having them in the room may not be ideal. Depending on the local regulations, having them in the room may not meet the requirements. Around here, they would need to be readily accessible, and just having them in the room may not meet that requirement.

It would be better to have them in more than one location. Last I checked, there was no requirement on a maximum number of life jackets, just a minimum. So in each cabin is good if the alarm were to happen while guests were in the cabin, but having them also in an accessible area on deck would seem like a good idea.

 

[Shasta_man]

<<It would be better to have them in more than one location. >> That's really what you need but I don't know that anyone has that.

If you are sleeping when the alarm happens, you want immediate access so you don't have to find it topside besides whether you may literally need it while below decks. You need it topside in case the alarm sounds up there because we have read about the person who went back down to their cabin to get something being the one who died.

 

[Belzelbub]

That's really what you need but I don't know that anyone has that.

I do on my boat. Small cabin that is pretty much lined with life jackets. On deck there are enough for everyone on board under the hard top. They are ot of the way, but accessible. My boat is 25’. Surely the much larger LOBs can figure out a way to make this work.