Fire Fighting Appliances onboard ship

Fire Fighting Appliances onboard ship

In this post we will discuss about the fire fighting appliances used onboard ship in merchant navy and also about their locations onboard ship.

What are fire fighting appliances onboard ship :

(1) The fire fighting appliances helps the crew of the ship in case of a fire emergency.

(2) It is mandatory for all the sea going vessels to carry the fire fighting appliances onboard them.

(3) The conditions onboard ship are favourable for the fire emergencies and therefore it is the main cause of accidents happening onboard ships.

(4) The installation regarding the requirements of the fire fighting appliances onboard ships comes under the fire fighting code or FFA code of the SOLAS.

The list of the fire fighting appliances used onboard ships is as follows –

Fire bulkheads and fire doors forms the major construction of the ship.

They stop the spread of the fire.

The fire doors are self closing type, which close automatically upon sounding of a fire alarm.

(2) Fire pumps and Emergency fire pump :

The merchant ship has two fire pumps and one emergency fire pump.

The two main fire pumps get the supply from the main switchboard while the emergency fire pump gets the connection from the emergency switchboard.

In the scenario of black out, the emergency fire pump is used to extinguish the fire.

The capacities of all the fire pumps are according to the ship size and ship type.

The sea water from the fire pumps and the emergency fire pump is pumped into the fire line.

The fire piping is designed in such a way that it withstands the maximum pressure of the fire pump.

Fire hydrants are provided on the fire line at various locations.

The water available at the fire hydrants is used for fire fighting by connecting the one end of the fire hoses to the hydrants.

The other end of the fire hose is connected to a fire nozzle which has a dual mode – spray mode and jet mode.

The appropriate type of mode is used as per the requirement.

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The 4 in number fireman’s outfit are provided onboard ship.

The primary fire station stores 2 fireman outfits while the secondary fire station stores the remaining 2 fireman outfits.

The fireman outfit includes fire suit, fireman boots, fireman helmet, fire gloves, breathing apparatus set, Explosion proof light, fire axe and fireproof lifeline.

Every ship has a fire detection and alarm system for detecting and providing the warning in case of fire scenarios.

The fire detection system involves smoke detectors and flame detectors.

They detect the presence of fire and give out a fire alarm.

The main panel of the fire detection and alarm system is provided at the fire control station and the secondary unit is located on the bridge.

From the fire control station, the crew can come to know about the location of the fire extinguisher which has issued the alarm.

The ship’s crew then acts accordingly.

The merchant ship has different types of portable fire extinguishers onboard it.

The ship has foam type fire extinguishers, dry powder type fire extinguishers and co2 type portable fire extinguishers as well.

One can find them at various locations all over the ship.

The merchant ship normally has a foam type fixed fire extinguishing system for the deck fires.

While for the engine room fire the fixed fire fighting system is normally of co2 type.

This might vary from ship to ship.

The engine room machineries like purifiers, boilers, generators, main engine and incinerator get the protection from the water mist system.

The position of the water mist system nozzles is on top of these machineries.

These nozzles start spraying the water automatically when the flame detector gives the fire alarm.

The water mist system receives the water supply from one of the fresh water tanks of the ship.

One can find the inert gas system on the oil tankers and the gas tankers.

The inert gas with less than 5 % oxygen is filled in the cargo tanks.

This cuts off the oxygen from the fire triangle and prevents the fire.

The inert gas generator or the exhaust of the boiler upon cleaning gives us the inert gas.

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The outlet valves of the fuel oil tanks are the quick closing valves.

These valves are operated from the fire control station in the event of the fire.

The control air of 7 kg/cm2 operates the quick closing valves.

One can find this emergency escape route in the engine room on the bottom platform.

In the event of the fire, this route helps the engine room crew in escaping from engine room.

This emergency escape route opens into the steering gear platform and from there one can go outside the engine room on the poop deck.

(13) International shore coupling :

A international shore coupling or ISC connection helps to take the water supply from the outside into the ship.

This also comes handy while taking help from outside in fighting the fire.

On the ship one can find this ISC connection at the fire control station.

The international shore coupling has standard measurements, this is a requirement according to the FFA code of the SOLAS.

The list given above are the fire fighting equipment mandatory to have onboard ship as per the fire fighting code of the SOLAS.