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

Factual Information 8 Marine Accident ReportTable 1. Timeline of Events Onboard the EcstasyTIMEEVENT1913 All responding tugs are at the scene. Coastal Miami is made fast to the Ecstasy’s bow.Other tugs direct streams of water from their fire monitors at the stern of the Ecstasy.1950 Shoreside firefighters board Ecstasy to assess fire scene.1955 Crewmembers are released from their emergency stations2109 Miami-Dade FD declares fire under control.2130 Coast Guard COTP order grants permission for the Ecstasy to enter port.0118 Ecstasy arrives at Pier 8, Port of Miami*The cruise director provided status announcements to passengers, and the hotel manager maintained telephonecommunications with shoreside Carnival Cruise Lines officials.The first officer stated that about 2 minutes later, all of the alarms on the fire panelseemed to light up at the same time. In response to this, he reset the panel display. The firstofficer also began to receive telephone calls from crewmembers reporting smoke invarious aft areas. Shortly thereafter, a fault alarm began to sound on the bridge for the lowlocationlighting, that is, the lighting system that illuminates the emergency escape routeson the vessel. According to the master, the noise from this alarm, which could not besilenced on the bridge, interfered with bridge communications. The chief electrician wassent to check the main unit of the low-location lighting system. The electrician stated thatwhen he could not immediately identify what triggered the fault alarm, rather than returnto the bridge and disconnect the alarm mechanism, he shut down power to the system,which turned off all low-location lighting throughout the ship.Meanwhile, the safety officer descended to the marshalling area on deck No. 3,where he observed smoke in the aft end of the passageway. He said that he immediatelyradioed the bridge asking that the master make the “Alpha Team” 8 code announcement.The staff captain stated that when he arrived at the marshalling area, he saw no flames butobserved smoke spreading upward to deck No. 4. The staff captain radioed hisobservations to the master and asked that all five fire teams be alerted and that the entireaft MVZ be secured.8 An announcement of “Alpha Team” was the signal for the quick response team to assemble in themarshalling area. The quick response team, comprising the fire patrol chief and a 5-person environmentalteam, was the onboard unit required to respond first to a fire emergency and to take action to suppress a fireuntil the ship’s fire teams could arrive.