Safety Alert: Shipboard firefighting by shore based firefighters

 

 

On 5 July 2023, a fire caught hold on board the vehicle carrier Grande Costa D’Avorio whilst it was being loaded with cars and other vehicles at a US port. The fire was officially extinguished on 11 July 2023.

Tragically, two shore based firefighters lost their lives whilst courageously trying to fight the fire. The firefighters may have had difficulty in finding their way around the vessel decks in the hazardous and extremely challenging conditions that they encountered. The US Coast guard investigation “…indicated that the local fire department responding to the incident had little to no maritime firefighting training, experience, or familiarization with cargo ships of any type.”

The US Coast Guard subsequently issued Marine Safety Alert 09-23 to “…raise awareness within the Marine Transportation System of the unique dangers of shipboard fires, particularly onboard multi-level freight vessels like vehicle carrying Roll-on, Roll-off or “Ro-Ros”. In it, the Coast Guard strongly recommends that local fire departments, and port stakeholders engage with each other as part of their Contingency Plan, to establish regular shipboard firefighting education and training.

In response to the incident, the Ports of the Delaware River Marine Trade Association developed and delivered a vessel familiarisation workshop to local first responders. This was designed to help those who might have to access a vessel in an emergency, to understand risks and how to navigate a vehicle carrier. The content was specifically intended for people with professional emergency skills and experience but who might not be familiar with these types of vessels.

A link to a presentation about the workshop and its content is available here

 

The linked presentation was by Erick Saia at an ICHCA Coffee Break Webinar. We are working with Erick and several members on a template that could be used by ports and terminals internationally as part of the familiarisation/engagement between fire departments, and port stakeholders that is recommended by the US Coast Guard.
Additional Information available on public record about the incident:

Facts of the incident: includes images taken from exterior and interior of the vessel: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/910187/coast-guard-exhibit-01-facts-incident-grande-costa-davorio

The records and testimony of the US Coast Guard Formal Investigation Hearing: https://www.news.uscg.mil/News-by-Region/1st-District-Northeast/PADET-New-York/Grande-Costa-DAvorio-Investigation/

 

FOR THE FULL REPORT CLICK HERE

 

ICHCA International is committed to helping industry to learn lessons fast, learn them once and make sure that they stay learnt. This information is intended to provide all organisations in the cargo supply chain with the opportunity to consider the events and to review and adapt their own health and safety control measures to proactively prevent future incidents

We are grateful to United States Coast Guard for providing details and for raising awareness. We acknowledge their commitment to sharing learning to benefit others. If you have similar operations, please share this information with managers, operatives and any potentially affected third parties as appropriate. Please also review any of your relevant operations for similar hazardous conditions, risks, and controls. Learning content like this is highly valuable as it is based on real-world experience. We encourage everyone with publishable information about incidents to send it to us, so that we can raise awareness across the whole industry. Please contact us at secretariat@ichca.com; sharing your insight could save a life or prevent injury.