RISK FOCUS — ENGINE ROOM FIRES

This P&I publication is devoted to the fires occurring in the engine room of the vessel. Taking into account a very broad range of fuel and ignition sources existing in the engine room of any ship, it appears quite understandable that this is a place where huge proportion of fires happening on board ships originates. These are maybe the most common types of fires.

In fact, a substantially extended time onboard vessel with no fire incidents could actually lead to complacency which would in turn result in a failure to duly prioritize appropriate fire prevention measures and practices. This paper is intended to provide some information on the shipboard engine room fires.

The material contained in it is arranged in several sections covering the measures to be taken in order to reduce the risk of fire in the machinery room, ignition processes and fire essentials, solid and gaseous fuels, electrical, oil and scavenge fires, incinerators and boilers, fire detection and suppression, visual inspections of the equipment, limiting the spread of fire, QCV, i.e. quick closing valves, shipboard fire safety systems etc. In spite of its compact size, this booklet covers virtually all important aspects and is recommended for familiarization.