firefighting in the marina by dock and police/fire boat youtube.

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by Squidly-Diddly, Aug 17, 2019.

  1. Squidly-Diddly
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    Squidly-Diddly Senior Member



    First thing I'm thinking is, given unlimited water supply, their equip should be adjustable to allow pumping of larger volume of more "green" water at lower pressure to arc up and dump much more water on the fire, rather than pressure-wash the hulls of the burning boats with hi-pressure horizontal stream.

    Seems like it would be better for at least one hose to "go vertical" so water would be falling into the fires.

    Lots of comments claiming this was handled poorly, but I'm no expert and no idea if commenters know anything either. Does look like boats on fire are well into Total Loss, so the goal is to contain the fire, not put it out ASAP.
     
  2. Ike
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    Ike Senior Member

    Exactly: At that point this fire was already fully engulfed, and Fiberglass boats, once the glass starts burning, are dam,,,, hard to put out short of sinking the boat , and that is usually what puts it out. At this point the goal is to keep it from spreading. Pouring water into the boat will not put it out because of the materials and fuel that are burning. Once they have it contained then they can get it knocked down. Also part of the spray is to protect the firefighters. We used to tell boat crews, just sink the boat, of course that was before environmental concerns became the priority.

    Did you notice the people moving their boats? Brave people. But I'd probably do the same.
     
  3. BlueBell
    Joined: May 2017
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    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

    Fanning out their nozzles even just slightly would be an improvement.

    Foam can be effective in boat fires, but my god it is slippery under foot.

    We had a Russian tow-boat along-side here for repairs that caught fire and remained so for a MONTH!
    Had they simply filled it with foam at the onset, it would have been out that day.
    Most likely a welding caused fire.
     
  4. Ike
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    Ike Senior Member

    Foam is not necessarily the right choice. Depends on the type of fire and what type of foam they have. Plus that most of the fire fighting foams are pollutants. Get them in the water and they can make it uninhabitable for fish,other water wildlife, and people. Some foams are toxic to humans, carcinogens. see Firefighting foam - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefighting_foam
    If they didn't use foam I would say there was probably a very good reason. Hard to second guess the person on the scene.

    Back in 1975 when I was on the cutter Campbell we spilled some fuel oil while refueling. Some idiot poured lightwater fire fighting foam on it. He thought it would avoid the clean up. OOPs, not a good thing. Sinks the oil to the bottom and kills all the bottom feeders, and we got a nasty gram from the EPA. Don't know if we got fined, but I know the Captain was not happy.

    Anyway, if you have the right foam and the right conditions it's good. Surpresses the fire quickly. If not then you can't use it.
     
  5. Squidly-Diddly
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    Squidly-Diddly Senior Member

    Seems like in crowded marina "just sink the boat" still right call, even with E-concerns, because main thing is to stop spread which would lead to more boats sinking/polluting and overall greater E-concerns. Seems like once fire has opened up the topsides, using firehose to pump water into the boat to sink it ASAP would be the right thing to do, then deploy oil-booms, etc.

    Me? I'd have gone all in and sunk it with ramming attack if hoses not effective. :) Seriously, I'm pretty sure the police/fire boat is heavy duty and would've done the trick. It would be both ramming to open up side of hull and sliding up on top like an icebreaker to force the burning boat down into water. Sure the Chief is gonna go nuts and want a big report but what the heck.

    Reminds me of an old Youtube of a fairly small (at the time) car fire in 'Frisco parking lot. SFPD was on scene but they weren't letting anyone move their cars, so by time SFFD showed up it was about 4 cars on fire (parked super close by attendant because parking is $50/day in downtown). Needless to say the owners of other cars were somewhat agitated.
     

  6. Ike
    Joined: Apr 2006
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    Ike Senior Member

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