
The American Club has published some lessons learned from an incident where a general cargo vessel’s generator experienced a catastrophic failure while underway resulting in a fire that spread immediately to the bilges under the generator but couldn’t be fixed due to unfamiliarity with the fire extinguisher.
A senior and a junior engineer were in the engine room and both heard a loud bang. The two engineers investigated and saw the fire which quickly spread to the bilges. The automated alarm system sounded shortly after the fire started. The senior engineer saw the fire was in the bilges and knew that the foam fire extinguisher was appropriate to use. Continue reading “Fire spread due to unfamiliarity with fire extinguisher equipment”