Following a serious fire which claimed the lives of three fishermen in Fraserburgh Harbour, the Marine Coastguard Agency have investigated the need for fire safety equipment to be as effective on boats when they are in harbour, as when they are at sea. Apparently, many smoke and fire alarms do not function as they should, whilst a boat is docked.

With this in mind, the Marine Coastguard Agency have been warning skipper owners that they should be more mindful of allowing people to sleep on boats, when the fire protection system may not be working as it should be. When the boats are at sea, there does not appear to be this problem. The alarms work as they should and do warn people of any danger through fire.

The two Filipinos and one Latvian died in the tragic fire, because the fire protection equipment, which had been fitted, failed to warn them as the fire swept through their living quarters. The Marine Coastguard Agency believed that these deaths may have been avoided if the men had been warned through the smoke alarm going off.

Clearly, fire protection equipment needs to be effective whilst a boat is in harbour. The boat could be equipped with ordinary, battery operated smoke alarms which would provide a suitable warning if a fire were to break out. Automatic fire extinguishers are ideal for use on boats. They are particularly effective in unsupervised areas where there may be an increased risk of fire. One such example on a boat, would be the engine room or compartment.

Once the temperature reaches 79 degrees Celsius and over, the automatic fire extinguisher is activated and will release a powder to put out the fire. This type of fire extinguisher would provide ideal fire protection equipment for a boat. Within the living quarters on the boat, ordinary fire extinguishers should be fitted and fire blankets can be just as useful to have handy.

Whilst the Marine Coastguard Agency continues to investigate this matter, skipper owners will have to ensure that they are far more careful about the fire safety protection that would be available to anybody that they are allowing to sleep on their boat. The installation of smoke alarms that will work effectively, whilst the boat is not at sea, would seem to be a very sensible suggestion. They should also make other fire safety equipment available, like fire extinguishers and fire blankets, for example.



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