Fire on Board the Liberian Passenger Ship Ecstasy, Miami, Florida ...

Factual Information 6 Marine Accident ReportA cabin steward who had gone to retrieve towels from a linen closet near the mainlaundry provided a different account of events. He said that he was at the linen closet doorwhen he observed smoke in the main laundry. He said that when he went to investigate, hesaw the two fitters working on the inboard side of the mangle. He then saw flames on theoutboard side of the mangle, near the exhaust vents. He said that he retrieved a fireextinguisher to fight the fire; however, when one of the fitters dumped a jug of water onthe side of the mangle where they were working, flames “appeared to jump up” to anoverhead vent. The steward said that the smoke and flames became too great for him tofight with an extinguisher, so he activated the local fire alarm at the laundry room door.About the same time, the laundry crew was preparing to eat when the laundrymanager noticed smoke coming from the overhead vents in the crew galley. 6 He said thathe and the assistant laundry manager went to investigate and saw smoke upon entering thelaundry. The laundry manager stated that he did not see the fitters through the smoke. Themanager and assistant manager left the laundry. The assistant laundry manager said that hepulled the manual fire alarm in the passageway forward of the laundry and closed thewatertight door (WTD) at the laundry entrance. The manager closed the fire screen door(FSD) next to the WTD. The two men then reported to their emergency stations.Activities on the BridgeAt the time that the Ecstasy departed Miami, the bridge team comprised themaster, the pilot, the staff captain, a first officer, a second officer, a third officer (observertrainee),and two quartermasters. As the Ecstasy entered the Bar Cut Channel, the pilotrequested more speed so that the ship could arrive at the pilot debarkation station 7 beforeencountering the rainsquall, which was approaching from the northeast. At the pilot’srequest, the master increased the ship’s throttle setting to full ahead maneuvering speed(110 rpm), or approximately 13 knots.At 1710, an alarm sounded on the fire control panel on the bridge. The first officersaid that he immediately went to the alarm panel to investigate the source of the alarm andobserved that a light on the panel indicated that the alarm was in the main laundry on deckNo. 2. He said that the first alarm was followed rapidly by alarms in the stern thrusterroom, the air conditioning room, and the steering gear room. The first officer said thatwhen he informed the master about the alarms, the master ordered him to send the staffcaptain and the safety officer to investigate the source of the alarms and to report theirfindings. The first officer also sent the second officer and two roving fire patrolmen toinvestigate. A timeline of events beginning with the first fire alarm appears in Table 1.6 The laundry crew galley is located on the same deck and immediately forward of the ship’s laundry.7The master said that he normally disembarked pilots between buoys number 2 and 3 and the Miamisea buoy. On this night, he went past the sea buoy because he feared that if he stopped near it, the strongnortherly current in the area of the sea buoy would cause the ship to drift into an anchorage north of the seabuoy where two ships were anchored. The pilot said he also wanted to put the Ecstasy in a clear area becausehe had traffic behind him, including an outbound passenger ship.