Topic starter
05/06/2011 3:09 pm
Greetings From New Orleans !
An accidental fire of any kind is NOT a good thing and when it occurs on a boat in the river and in a marine environment it is even worse !
Last night at about 1630 (4:30 pm) the M/V Toco Tody , a local fleet boat in the Paulina, La. area mile 150 LMR , caught fire and is still burning ! It is believed that the fire originated in the boat's engine room and rapidly spread through out the entire boat ! The good news is that everyone on board was rescued and there was no loss of life ! One other bit of good news is that the crew was able to tie the boat off to a fleet of barges , usiong the boats face wires . From what I could see through the smoke the boat is a totlal loss and I am a bit surprised to see it sitll floating !
The Fire Boat , St. James did arrive on the scene and did what it could to put the fire out but due to the nature and intensity of the fire it was unable to extinguish the fire but did stand by and did extinguish the burning fuel oil that escaped into the river !
During my career on the river I have personally been on board a few ships that did actually catch fire and some times with a foreign crew ( especially the Chinese ) it simply is NOT a warm and fuzzy feeling to experience ! It also gives true meaning to the expression , " A Chinese Fire Drill " !!
Once again the good news is that no one got hurt and the boat did not sink and thus cause additional safety issues !
Smooth Sailing !
Ted dAVISSON
05/06/2011 3:47 pm
Looks pretty nasty! We once had an inspector on the Belle that loved to throw generator fire drills at us on every inspection--kept us on our toes! Another helpful tip I was given by older crewmembers was to imagine various emergency scenarios and practice in my mind how to deal with them. When some of those scenarios have come true, it has certainly helped me keep a level head!
Topic starter
05/06/2011 4:22 pm
Roger , On That !
Dan ,
You are so very right about that ! A level head in an emergency goes a long ways and just may make the difference between siurvival and death ! A bit of experience goes a long ways as well and GEE , that is something that I think that they DON't teach at these maritime academies !!
Smooth Sailing !
Ted Davisson
NOBRA 70
Dan Lewis;26202 wrote: Looks pretty nasty! We once had an inspector on the Belle that loved to throw generator fire drills at us on every inspection--kept us on our toes! Another helpful tip I was given by older crewmembers was to imagine various emergency scenarios and practice in my mind how to deal with them. When some of those scenarios have come true, it has certainly helped me keep a level head!
05/06/2011 4:53 pm
Boatm'n's Nightmare
Every boatm'n's nightmare.... not a pretty sight. First-hand ff training was given YT when the LUTHER HERDMAN burned at the mouth of the Kanawha River during the bitter cold month of January 1971 while I was with John Beatty on the first crew of the CLARE E. BEATTY- working there while awaiting the fate of the DELTA QUEEN. The HERDMAN was a total loss, but the QUEEN was saved.
Topic starter
05/06/2011 5:25 pm
The " Perfect Fire " !!
Greetings From New Orleans !
Capt. Don , thanks for your posting and your perspective on river boat fires ! The way I see it , many of these marine fires on river boats all have the recipe for the " Perfect Fire " !
Hot Engines ,
Unattended Engine Room ,
Uninspected Engine Room ,
Un-monitored Engine Room
On Fleet Boats , No Engineer ,
Un Trained , Un Licensed , and Under Paid Crew
GEE ! WHAT DO YOU EXXPECT ??
05/06/2011 11:49 pm
Dan: I certainly agree with all that. Working things out in your mind IS good exercise. One fine day a few years ago, a friend with cancer wanted to go for a steamboat ride. Well, I fired up MISSIE and he and I went up Big Bone Creek. He was in front and I in back of the four place steam launch. When we got to Mud Lick, he slumped over and I sweat bullets trying to figure out what to do. It is nearly impossible to get from the front to the back of MISSIE without someone to counterbalance your weight. As you step around the boiler the boat tips and the 400 degree hot stack comes down in front of you like a railroad crossing gate. It is not absolutely impossible but nearly so. We were close to a landing place with no dock and I thought to take him there and try to make a landing such that I could get him out of the boat to do CPR...no way to do it in the boat. Donno if you've tried to move an adult lifeless body from a tippy steam launch with no dock and no help but, luckily Jerry was just sound asleep...lulled there by the gentle put-put of the steam engine and the lazy afternoon. He had a wonderful afternoon never knowing the bad time he gave me. He passed away a year or so later and I like to think MISSIE and I were able to give him somthing remember. Having an able bodied passenger in such an event is a god-send.
06/06/2011 4:10 am
Even a landlubber like me has seen a vessel fire up Close and personnel. When the Twila Marge, was pushing the Dredge Captain Meriwether Lewis up the Missouri from Gasconade to Brownville, Neb in 1977. We tied off for the night just below Franklin Island chute mile 192 and in the morning we left at 5:10 just as it was getting light, 20 minutes and 1.5 miles later the hydraulic line to the supper charger broke sending oil on to the hot stack and we had a fire. pilot shut down the engine and a couple of fire extinguishes had it out in short order. I saw a recent story of a similar event just recently. The line was braze to stop the leak and we ere able to proceed up river. We brought several old extinguishes from the Dredge to the engine of the Twila Marge just in case there was a repeat, and a fellow from the office meet us at New Franklin with new replacement extinguishers. fires happen but all we had was some scorched paint.