Fire in the tender garage

What you do on the bridge

1. Accept the alarm
2. Send someone and call the Master
3. General alarm and PA
4. Shut the zone down, start the pump
5. Put the wind right
6. VDR and the deck log

The oral questions, and what a good answer covers

The key points are in our own words. In the course, these questions come once you have done the job.

1. The fire panel shows a fire alarm in the tender garage. What do you do on the bridge?Often asked

   A good answer covers:

   • Accept the alarm at the panel, note the zone and detector, and send someone to look
   • Call the Master
   • Once it is confirmed, sound the general alarm and tell everyone over the PA what and where
   • Stop the ventilation to the zone and close the fire doors, and start the fire pump
   • Put the ship so the wind keeps the smoke and fire clear of the accommodation, and slow down
   • Keep a record of times and actions, save the VDR, and consider an urgency or distress message

   Show me on the bridgeOpen the fire detection panel: the zones, accept, reset, general alarm and the PA.

2. Why alter course and speed for a fire, and which way would you put the wind?Often asked

   A good answer covers:

   • The wind across the deck carries smoke and flame, and feeds the fire with air
   • A fire aft: put the wind ahead, so the smoke blows aft and clear of the accommodation
   • A fire forward: put the wind astern, or on the quarter, for the same reason
   • Slow down to cut the wind over the deck, but keep steerage way
   • Keep clear of traffic and shoal water while you do it

   Show me on the bridgeLook at the wind against your heading. Where would smoke from aft blow?

3. What is boundary cooling and starving, and why does the bridge shut a zone down?

   A good answer covers:

   • A fire needs fuel, heat and oxygen: take any one away and it goes out
   • Stopping the fans and closing the fire doors cuts its air and stops smoke spreading through the ship
   • Cooling the decks and bulkheads around it stops heat passing into the next space
   • Fuel supplies to the space are shut off where they can be
4. What happens if nobody accepts a fire alarm at the panel?

   A good answer covers:

   • The panel sounds on the bridge and at the control station first
   • If it is not accepted within 2 minutes, the alarm sounds through the crew spaces by itself
   • So the watch accepts it promptly and starts finding out what is wrong
   • Accepting it only silences the buzzer: the zone stays in alarm until the cause is cleared and the panel reset
5. After the fire, what records do you keep?

   A good answer covers:

   • Save the VDR record so the bridge audio and data around the event are kept
   • A deck log entry: times, where the fire was, what was done and the outcome
   • The Master reports to the owner, the flag and others as the SMS requires
   • Any equipment used or damaged is noted so it can be refilled or repaired

How the lesson runs

The tutor's narration from the lesson, step by step. On the bridge, each control lights up as it is named.

1. Brief

   We're making ten knots east on the autopilot, with a fresh south-westerly on the starboard quarter. A minute in, the fire panel will go into alarm in the tender garage, aft.

   First we find out: accept the alarm, send someone and call the Master. Once it's confirmed we raise the alarm, shut the zone down, start the pump, and put the wind where the smoke blows clear.

2. Accept the alarm

   There's the fire alarm. Accept it at the panel within a minute. Left alone, it sounds through the crew spaces by itself, and you want to be the one who decides what happens next.

3. Send someone and call the Master

   Send someone with a radio to the tender garage, zone 2, within two minutes. The panel tells you where, but only a person can tell you what.

   Call the Master within three minutes. The Master needs to be on the bridge for this.

4. General alarm and PA

   Once it's confirmed, by the patrol or by a second detector, sound the general alarm within a minute. That musters the fire party.

   Then within two minutes tell everyone over the PA that there is a fire, and where: the tender garage.

5. Shut the zone down, start the pump

   Within five minutes of confirmation, stop the fans to zone 2 and release its fire doors. That starves the fire of air and stops the smoke spreading.

   Start the emergency fire pump in the same five minutes, so the fire party has water.

6. Put the wind right

   The fire is aft and the wind is on the quarter, blowing the smoke forward over the accommodation. Within eight minutes of confirmation, bring the wind within forty five degrees of the bow, and slow to six knots or less.

   Then the smoke goes aft, clear of the ship, and there's less wind feeding the fire.

7. VDR and the deck log

   Save the VDR record, so the bridge audio and data around the fire are kept. Then write it up in the deck log: what happened and where, a fire in the tender garage.