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

Factual Information 19 Marine Accident ReportGeneral ConstructionThe diesel-electric-propelled Ecstasy is 859.4 feet long, 103.4 feet wide, andadmeasures 70,367 gross tons. The vessel has 13 decks and seven MVZs, which areseparated by A-60 Class divisions. 16 (See figure 5.)Main LaundryThe main laundry was on deck No. 2, within MVZ 2. The mangle (figure 3) was onthe starboard side of the laundry space. When operating the mangle, laundry workersplaced damp linens on the loading side of the machine. The mangle had strings coatedwith wax that directed the linen through the ironing machine’s felt-covered rollers. Thesteam produced by the ironing action was removed by blowers and exhausted into twovertical ducts on the starboard side of the mangle. When workers turned off the mangle, itsrollers automatically raised, preventing damage to the roller bed. The vertical ducts thatinterfaced with the mangle were attached to a main exhaust duct for the machine.Two ventilation duct systems exhausted the air in the laundry space: one ductsystem exhausted the air over the mangle and the other duct system exhausted the air nearthe six dryers. The duct system dedicated to the mangle had three circular intake openingsthat were set flush with the stainless steel panels of the overhead and that were not coveredby a grill or filter. The forwardmost intake opening was above the folding machineattached to the mangle, the second intake opening was directly above the mangle’s rollers,and the third intake opening was at the end of the mangle where the linen was loaded.The two exhaust systems (figure 1) were separate from each other until the ductsexited into the aft mooring deck plenum. The blowers for each of the systems were in thedouble-deck air conditioning room that extended upward from deck No. 4. According toCarnival Cruise Lines’ records, the mangle exhaust blower had a calculated linear flowvelocity of 7.3 meters per second (m/s). 17Aft Mooring DeckThe mooring station on deck No. 4 is aft of the MVZ No. 1 forward bulkhead. Thestation is a covered space that is open to the weather on the port, starboard, and aft sides.(See figures 6a and 6b.) The station is used only when docking or undocking. The area hasthree electrically controlled winches that spool the large diameter polypropylene line(rope) that is used to moor the vessel. One winch is on the port side, one is on thestarboard side, and one is in the center of the deck. Additional coils of mooring line arestored on wooden pallets on the mooring deck.16 SOLAS Regulation II-2/3.3 stipulates that A-60 class bulkheads and decks must be constructed ofsteel or other equivalent materials; suitably stiffened; capable of preventing the passage of smoke and flamefor 1 hour; and insulated with approved, noncombustible materials that limit temperature increases.17 For a duct cross section measuring 1.03 meters, the fan capacity of the mangle blower was 7.5 cubicmeters per second; the fan capacity of the dryer blower was 6.4 cubic meters per second.