Fire Breaks Out Aboard
The MS Deutschland
By Mike Groves
On Sunday the MS Deutschland suffered a major fire which spread through parts of the ship during the early hours, In total 364 passengers, 241 crewmembers and two Norwegian ships pilots were evacuated from the ship safely when the incident took place in western Norway and near the port of Eidfjorden. The fire, which is reported to have started in the ships engine room quickly took hold of the vessel and it would appear, its ferocity may have overwhelmed the MS Deutschland crews ability to fight it?
Ships fire crews are often very highly trained but as one can appreciate their numbers are limited, so battling a major incident such as this successfully often comes down to a matter of manpower.
The ship, which is well-known in Germany for featuring in the prominent German TV-show “Das Traumschiff” and which was similar to the "The Love Boat" in the United States, will now be towed to Oslo for extensive repairs and her sailing - March 25 to June 7 - has been cancelled.
Fire Breaks Out Aboard The MS Deutschland
"Ship fires and the risks involved’
By Mike Groves QGM
Cruise Bruise Security And Safety Advisor
May 28, 2010
MS Deutschland in happier times
One Eyewitness stated seeing large clouds of smoke rising up from the ship which later subsided. It is not clear at this point if this witness is referring to the smoke or the actual ship itself? If the ship, then the fire damage is very serious indeed; if she suffered collapsing bulkheads? For this to happen; for steel to buckle, the temperatures would have been around 1370 degrees C (2500°F), if memory serves me correctly!
The MS Deutschland has 10 decks, 7 of which are accessible to passengers
Rescue services spokesman Per Fjeld reported on Sunday that although fire-fighters managed to contain the fire in the machine room, the fire was still burning inside that location and as such, causing heat to spread through the ship. This is clearly a phenomenon in fires referred to as conduction, the transfer of heat from a region of higher temperature to a region of lower temperature. Specialist fire-fighters were later called in to try to stop this fire spread.
It would appear ‘HI-FOG’ was not fitted on board the MS Deutschland, as surely this would have brought the fire under control much more quickly. HI-FOG is not the world's leading water mist fire protection technology and has been available on cruise ships for some years and but now the technology is moving onto land. Pipe sizes are small, making installation easy and fast, particularly in retrofits.
HI-FOG also uses just pure water, making it totally safe for people and ideal in this situation due to the number of people that will, in all probability, have no obvious escape route from either a ships engine room on the ship itself, if at sea.
I would think all the fire doors were operating correctly and the crew managed to rally to the fire point quickly, then they made a valiant effort in containing the fire. However, fire on board a vessel at sea will always be a very serious and difficult situation to contain due to that very reason – conduction.
Imagine if you will standing on either side of a steel box; and cruise ships are made up of lots of steel boxes (sections), and inside that box is a very fierce fire. The intense heat generated from the fire will then travel through the top, bottom and four side of that box and each adjacent 'box' (work space or guest suite) as the heat moves (is conducted) throughout the ship. In time soft furnishings or other combustible materials will reach their own respective ignition points and then fire spread will naturally occur. This will continue unless brought under control, quickly and efficiently.
As already stated, ships fire fighting crews are often restricted in numbers and if you bear in mind that in order to prevent such fire spread, then effective boundary cooling needs to take place on the top, bottom and each side of that burning steel box. A difficult task in its own right. Not withstanding the evident risks from the fire itself, you also need to factor in more lethal toxins from padded bulkheads, wiring and even some furnishings, if not conforming to modern fire standards. In serious fires you may well encounter cyanogens [colourless, poisonous gas, C2N2 ] and/or carcinogenic toxins. Added with the dangers of all that and while working in a confined space, fire-fighters also have to be mindful of of the burst of boiling steam vapours coming their way while they attempt to cool the bulkheads.
With most serious domestic fires we can often use a system called venting; allowing the venting of the excess pressure to a safe area to reduce or prevent explosion.On board the ‘tin can’ this can often be difficult is not impossible and sometimes not wise, if it can’t be fully controlled. Ships are full of Air Con ducting and the last thing a ships fire-fighter wants is to have fire enter those on top of everything else and which would allow fire to travel more freely through the ships super structure. Now granted many have fire dampers fitted within them but it is still something that has to be dealt with and the fire could remain in there or flash up some considerable time later.
Flame Temperature
Generally speaking common gaseous fuels will not glow or become luminous at temperatures below to 2000°C so that the appearance of a flame indicates a very high temperature. The following table gives the colours of hot bodies and gases at various temperatures –
In a solid body In a flameBarely visible red colour 500 1000
500 1000Dull red 700 1300
700 1300Dull cherry red 800 1500
800 1500Full cherry red 900 1650
900 1650Clear cherry red 1000 1850
1000 1850Orange colour 1200 2000
1200 2000White 1300 2350
1300 2350Bright white 1400 2500
1400 2500Dazzling white 1500 2700
2700………………………..............................…
Something else to consider is that unlike most modern buildings, cruise ships do not have pressurised stairwells throughout, unless things have really moved on since I was last on board?
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