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A potentially dangerous fire
threatened over 3,813 passengers and crew on one of
the world's newest and largest cruise ships as it
sailed toward Jamaica during the early morning hours
one day last Spring.
A small fire that began on one of
the ship's balconies spread over three adjacent
decks on the ship's port side. Had it not been for
the fast action of crewmembers, the fire could have
caused severe circumstances. During the fire, cabin
doors and locks had melted and the hallways had
filled with black acrid smoke.
It was later determined that the
careless discarding of a lit cigarette ignited
furniture in a balcony area.
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As a result of this event, maritime
organizations and cruise ship owners reexamined
safety regulations governing on-board fire
detection/prevention systems and decided to take
proactive steps to further enhance passenger safety.
Fire Detection - Early detection of fire on
balconies is of paramount importance on a cruise
ship, as fires not contained by a structure can
spread rapidly to other areas. The balconies are
also an outdoor environment and exposed to all types
of weather conditions. Several conventional fire
detection technologies were considered but each was
rejected due to their inability to survive the harsh
maritime environment and provide the coverage in
each balcony compartment.
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Recently, one major cruise line
owner decided that they would equip their vessel's
balconies with a Protectowire Linear Heat Detection
System which provides a mode of detection that is
compatible with the harsh conditions encountered at
sea. The Protectowire Co., Inc. linear heat
detection system has the ability to display the zone
and location of a fire condition on the control
panel. The Protectowire System was selected based on
its capability to monitor the various spaces,
resistance to false alarms, low maintenance, and
relatively low cost installation. |
