Corribee72
New member
We had a fire on board last night and I need to pass on some information that may or may not be useful to any newbies, like us, who may be out there. We, thats my wife and I, were happily eating our fish and chips whilst the kettle was heating up on a camping stove, suddenly a literal fire ball, luckily we were out of the cabin and the cabin was ablaze. I have two fire extinguishers, both in the cabin and beyond reach, due to fire and terrible fumes. A nearby boat very knindly gave me a fire extinguisher and I put the fire out, the powder was amazingly effective. Hampshire fire and rescue arrived and gave the boat a once over with thermal imagers, removing smouldering items, they were absolutely outstanding, a big thank you to all those who offered assistance. We replaced the good Samaritans extinguisher today along with some flowers. The points I wanted to emphasize were, beware camping stoves, the fire chief said the canisters can work loose and that heat transference to the cannister from pot or kettle can be enough to cause a problem. Be mindful were the extinguishers are, if someone was at the far end of the cabin, they would have been in serious trouble, I will have extinguishers at both ends of the boat now. Those powder extinguishers are so effective, a £20 extinguisher pretty much saved my boat. Fire can start in an instance, when you least expect it, so have plans in place and finally, when the pooh hits the fan people rise to the occasion, thanks again to all. We have removed the panelling to replace it, need a new solar panel and some wiring, need to do some upholstery, and need to do a lot of cleaning but we are unhurt, still have a boat and didnt damage anyone else's boat. We got very, very lucky, live and learn and all that.