Fire Fighting Appliances

Extinguishers

All extinguishers - Serviced annually - Extinguishers should be used during Muster drills and refilled - so they should be changed more than once a year

You can fill the following extinguisher onboard a vessel;

(Foam - AFFF) best on wood, paper, cloth, petrol, diesel and oils

(Dry-Powder) very good multi-purpose extinguisher

(Water) only used on wood, paper and cloth fires

The following needs specialist equipment to refill them

(Co2) best on liquid and electrical fires

(Halon) best on liquid and electrical fires

Common questions on fire-entinguishers are as follows;

(Q) How do you refill a water extinguisher?
(a)

(i) Undo the lid
(ii) empty the contents out
(iii) wash the inside of the cylinder with fresh water
(iv) using a torch, check for rust inside the cylinder
(v) fill the cylinder upto the mark in the inside of the cylinder
(vi) renew the compressed air canister in the lid
(vii) renew the "O" rings in the lid and on top of the cylinder
(viii) close the lid (Hand tight only)

With the foam extinguisher - you mix the solution into a bucket and then do the same as the water extinguisher

With the dry-powder fire extinguisher, place the recommend amount of power into the cylinder - change the compress air cartridge on the lid and change the "O" rings

Fire Hoses

You're required to have hoses to reach any part of your vessel, you also need at least one spare hose

Emergency Fire Hose

Emergency fire hoses must pump out a jet of water at least 16 metres

it can be a hand-pump or diesel/pertol pump

Fire Hose Nozzles

There is two types of fire hose nozzles;

(1) Jet nozzle - to reach further into a fire
(2) Spray Nozzle - To boudary cool and extinguish a safe area for you to walk through

Fire Hydrants

The captain asked how many fire hydrants the candidate had on his own vessel, he should know this because of the muster-drills he had done, larger vessels have hydrants through-out the vessel and on different levels too

Fire Axe

You should have a main fire axe and a spare onboard the vessel

Fireman's suit & S.C.B.A.

Vessels of a certain length are not required to have firemens suits and S.C.B.A. onboard their vessel but until you have done a fire-fighting course - you'll see how important these are in fire-fighting.

S.C.B.A. stands for Self Contained Breathing Apparatus

Fire Controlbox and smoke sensors

it's important to have smoke sensors through-out the vessel especially where there is electrial current and fuel - Wheelhouse, Galley and engineroom

Remember to test the smoke alarms every muster-drill as well and the controlbox