Browsing through the Fire and Safety Industry articles that we are sent every month there is occasionally an article that really stands out and makes us wonder why you wouldn’t install simple fire safety equipment to prevent the fire from taking hold. This months stand out feature is on Super yachts, whilst it’s fair to say that no one here in the FASS office has had much in the way of ownership of a Super yacht, the same principle also applies to smaller pleasure craft. This is particularly relevant if you own a fishing boat or canal boat for example, any kind of boat that you rent or hire out to people.
As a little bit of background information, the article centers around a recent series of Super yacht fires throughout 2016, one in St Thomas, plus two multimillion-dollar yachts in the Abu Dhabi Marina Yacht Club in early March, taking six boats with them. Two months earlier, a fire damaged two super yachts at a marina in Marmaris, Turkey, and another super yacht, the 95-foot Queen Anna, caught fire in Fethiye, Turkey. In these instances it was maintenance that was assumed to be the cause, primarily electrical fires as ships get older or emergency repairs are made at sea then not properly rectified etc. One of the issues the article was highlighting is that usually it’s not just the one yacht that catches fire, they’re nearly always in a marina when it happens and as they are moored so close together, typically it will take the surrounding vessels with it.
This is a concern if you are a yacht owner or boat owner and you may be wondering where FASS fit in to this. Most people are aware of the basics required with fire prevention or rapid fire extinguishing, on board their boat will be a selection of fire extinguishers and a fire blanket – in fact most insurance companies would specify this as a requirement. Whilst the very high end Super yachts will have fire suppression systems built in to them, many boats, especially older craft, will not and this is where FASS can help.
A fire suppression system will instantly react at the source of the fire before it take holds, the pipe work containing the extuishant will busts over the flame, flooding it with the extinguisher within seconds. The system is fully automatic, low maintenance and more importantly it can be retro-fitted in to boats. Our fire suppression systems are highly flexible and be scaled to fit your requirements and can be installed sensitively to avoid either unsightly pipe work or damaging historic or important areas of the boat.
So before you ‘sail on’ into the sunset, take a moment to consider whether your boat has adequate protection from fire. If you would like further information on our Fire Suppression Systems or how FASS can help you, please contact us or call 0800 298 0258.
