Fire at East Cowes Marina

[oceanfroggie]

when the fire service arrived their hoses were all too short to reach the hammer hd where the casualty was

Or not enough pressure.

In this case she burned to the waterline and then sank. A few mins after she sank the diesel tanks still full of fuel broke loose and floated up to the surface.

 

[Leighb]

Or not enough pressure.

In this case she burned to the waterline and then sank. A few mins after she sank the diesel tanks still full of fuel broke loose and floated up to the surface.

He appears to be taking the p***s.

 

[sailorman]

He appears to be taking the p***s.

He must be under 30 yrs old

 

[lenseman]

. . . . . Does all modern GRP burn like that?

Fibreglass burns no other way than just like that. It doesn't matter what age the fibreglass is, it is very imflammable once ignited.

Many years ago, I watched a Reliant Three-wheeler, racing up to a tail-back queue and it skidded to a halt, banged into the last car in a stationary line of traffic and promply caught fire from the front.

The fire that started was like a slow burning fuse and the three-wheeler burnt from front to back over a period of 5 to 8 minutes, long before the fire brigade could arrive.

Fibregalss burns very nicely indeed.



.

 

[l'escargot]

...When they arrived it was a relatively small fire and my belief is that 'elf and safety' stopped them fighting the fire effectively in the early stages when progress could have been made onboard...

I don't think you have sufficient information to categorically state that. The fire may have been contained internally but the internal volume of the boat is more than a large house and if the fire had taken hold but not spread outside at that point it could still have been beyond the available resources to extinguish it. Just because there weren't visible flames doesn't mean it was a small, easily extinguished fire. There is also the added complication of explosive fuel and compressed gases.

The River Ouse boat was less than half the size and probably less than a quarter of the volume so not really comparable.

If the fire brigade assess that extinguishing a fire is beyond their resources I would guess that a containment strategy is better than putting lives at risk on a lost cause, so describing that as an H&S strategy is somewhat derogatory - I don't think expecting them to possibly die in attempting to save property is entirely reasonable whereas safely limiting the spread to other property probably is.

I certainly wouldn't want anyone to die saving my boat although I am sure they would take greater risks to save lives and all respect to them for that.

This picture probably demonstrates the scale of the problem well:

 

[JumbleDuck]

Fibregalss burns very nicely indeed..

I think the glass may act as a wick for the decomposing resin. It's surprising how much of the glass survives; I would expect it to melt, but the burned GRP boats I have seen have produced great piles of woven / mat sheets/

 

[oceanfroggie]

You can't really tell from looking at those pics if the fire started high up in the super structure, or well below all decks (eg engine room, bilge area, under floor, etc). The fire could have started well below and smouldered slowly due limited oxygen supply below, but could have generated open flames on top of superstructure due oxygen supply. I have seen this before when a fire looked like it started in the cockpit of a vessel, but had actually been burning under floor for some time, with no flames visible inside the cabin until windows later ruptured. In that example, the first evidence of open flames was burning through the cockpit canopy covers.

Anyway a sad and traumatic episode for all connected with the vessel including the marina, rescue services and other nearby vessel owners.

 

[Seajet]

From what I could make out from the sequence of photo's this fire at East Cowes did start inside the boat, rather than the stray firework which bearing in mind the date was a worthwhile theory I suppose.

While it was first visible in the upper cabin it may well already have taken firm hold lower down.

Years ago when sailing my first dinghy we saw a 20' ish power cruiser - the streamlined sort with a cabin inside the front - catch fire ( it turned out to be via the gas cooker, uninsured, first trip ) - the 2 crew wisely legged it over the side then the whole lot went up with a bang then 50' flames and a huge black smoke pall.

I sometimes wonder how they'd have fared if this had happened out in deep water rather than being able to swim then walk ashore, there was hardly time to inflate a liferaft even if they'd had one.

It's still on the mud near Northney Marina but hard to spot, the remains are about the size of a small pram...

There was a nasty fire in Chichester marina years ago which started on one boat and took in 5-6 others, one of the downsides to marina berthing.

 

[Seven Spades]

I have to say this is tragic. I would be very annoyed if I was next to this boat as no effort appears to have been made to move and protect the vessels in the immediate vicinity. I think in these circumstances as soon as it has been established that there are is no one on board, the marina staff should have immediately cleared the immediate area of other boats, if nothing else it would prevent the spread of the fire. Once it was a raging inferno it was too late but at the start they could have take

 

[ChiPete]

Such a shame. I've often admired that boat (yes, I know it's not to everyone's taste) when visiting East Cowes.

I have to admit I'm slightly surprised that, given the volume of commercial and leisure shipping at Cowes that the authorities (HM/Police/et al) don't have a vessel with some sort of water monitor installed so that the fire can be fought on all sides. They seem to be fairly ubiquitous on tugs, why not on smaller vessels that could then provide fire cover?

 

[lw395]

Such a shame. I've often admired that boat (yes, I know it's not to everyone's taste) when visiting East Cowes.

I have to admit I'm slightly surprised that, given the volume of commercial and leisure shipping at Cowes that the authorities (HM/Police/et al) don't have a vessel with some sort of water monitor installed so that the fire can be fought on all sides. They seem to be fairly ubiquitous on tugs, why not on smaller vessels that could then provide fire cover?

I remember a fire on a motor cruiser in Portsmouth quite a few years ago.
The IoW car ferry gave it what for with a powerful hose.
I think to be effective you may have to be hosing from above?

I would have thought a vessel of that size might have been built with fire retardant resins.
In fact I thought that most modern resins had some fire retardant properties.
Apparently not.

 

[Moonshining]

I have to say this is tragic. I would be very annoyed if I was next to this boat as no effort appears to have been made to move and protect the vessels in the immediate vicinity. I think in these circumstances as soon as it has been established that there are is no one on board, the marina staff should have immediately cleared the immediate area of other boats, if nothing else it would prevent the spread of the fire. Once it was a raging inferno it was too late but at the start they could have take

Risking life to save property sounds like a really bad idea. Let the insurance companies take the hit.

 

[longjohnsilver]

I have to say this is tragic. I would be very annoyed if I was next to this boat as no effort appears to have been made to move and protect the vessels in the immediate vicinity. I think in these circumstances as soon as it has been established that there are is no one on board, the marina staff should have immediately cleared the immediate area of other boats, if nothing else it would prevent the spread of the fire. Once it was a raging inferno it was too late but at the start they could have take

They did, see the last but one pic in this article

http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/superyacht-sinks-after-fire-51584.aspx

 

[JumbleDuck]

I have to say this is tragic. I would be very annoyed if I was next to this boat as no effort appears to have been made to move and protect the vessels in the immediate vicinity. I think in these circumstances as soon as it has been established that there are is no one on board, the marina staff should have immediately cleared the immediate area of other boats, if nothing else it would prevent the spread of the fire. Once it was a raging inferno it was too late but at the start they could have take

There is a long thread about this in the Motor Boat forum, including this

The marina staff were quick to act and moved any boats near her approx 5 the Harbour Masters Sea Clear was on hand with fire pumps and firemen on board .
They think she will sink due to weight of water on her although 9 tonnes of diesel could be a pain for pollution.
Only damage that I could see was Merlyns Ariel on the starboard side had blown down due to the high winds.
Smoked damage to some boats but that is all .
Such a shame as she was a sight to be seen at the Marina .
Tim

So it looks as if the staff did what you (and I) would have wanted. I gather that no other boats caught fire.

 

[l'escargot]

I have to say this is tragic. I would be very annoyed if I was next to this boat as no effort appears to have been made to move and protect the vessels in the immediate vicinity. I think in these circumstances as soon as it has been established that there are is no one on board, the marina staff should have immediately cleared the immediate area of other boats, if nothing else it would prevent the spread of the fire. Once it was a raging inferno it was too late but at the start they could have take

They did move all adjacent boats, including 2 owned by members of this forum.

 

[l'escargot]

I remember a fire on a motor cruiser in Portsmouth quite a few years ago.
The IoW car ferry gave it what for with a powerful hose.
I think to be effective you may have to be hosing from above?...

Was it this one in June 2002? The Wightlink ferry did a good job:

 

[JumbleDuck]

Is there no fire tug in the Solent these days? There still seem to be a few around the Clyde which I think gets a lot less shipping than Southampton.

 

[mainsail1]

Now that is what you can do when you try! and they are not even professional firefighters.

Was it this one in June 2002? The Wightlink ferry did a good job:

 

[Tidewaiter2]

No, but the IoW ferries are very good seamen- we saw them rescue the Macgregor owner off Wootton Creek entrance a few years ago, while we tried to launch a rescue rib-no Club sailing on, and wrong state of tide for anything bigger on the RVYC pontoons to scramble quickly in that wind.

 

[oGaryo]

https://www.facebook.com/eastcowesmarina