Fire in engine room of ro-ro passenger ferry Isle of Inishmore
Location: Berthed at in Pembroke Dock, England.
Completed PE Summary: Isle of Inishmore
A short summary of the accident and action taken:
| Merchant Vessel/Accident Details | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Name | Isle of Inishmore |
| Manager | Dobson Fleet Management |
| Ship Owner | Irish Continental Group Plc |
| Port of Registry | Limassol |
| Flag | Cyprus |
| Classification Society | Lloyd’s Register |
| Type | Ro-ro passenger ferry |
| Built | 1997 |
| Construction | Steel |
| Length Overall | 182.5m |
| Gross Tonnage | 34031 |
| Date/Time | 30/07/2008, 0130 |
| Location of Incident | Ro-ro berth, Pembroke Dock |
| Incident Type | Fire |
| Persons Onboard | 89 crew, 227 passengers |
| Injuries/Fatalities | None |
| Damage/Pollution | Thermal oil heater disabled/None |
Synopsis
As Isle of Inishmore arrived in port, flames were briefly seen emitting from the starboard uptakes. On investigation, it was suspected that thermal oil was leaking into the thermal oil heater’s furnace from the heater coils. The thermal oil heater was turned off and its fuel supply isolated, and focus then shifted to switching the ship’s machinery fuel supply from heavy fuel oil to diesel.
A fire then broke out in the thermal oil heater and flames flashed out of the burner air intake igniting lagging and other materials in the engine room. This external fire was extinguished quickly, but the fire inside the heater furnace took much longer to completely extinguish as there was no means of closing off the air intake to the burner; there was no injection point into the furnace for an extinguishing medium; and the thermal oil in the coils could not be drained away as the heater was mounted horizontally.
The ship’s passengers were mustered during the emergency, but stayed on board as the fire was contained and under control very quickly.
Action taken
Lloyd’s Register has undertaken to review the rules governing thermal oil heater fire fighting arrangements and to highlight to IACS the issues arising from this accident.
The Deputy Chief Inspector has written to the ferry managers highlighting the safety issues that have arisen as a result of this accident.
Published: October 2008