I've heard news that the 74 Sunseeker "Seaduction" had a fire onboard today, 26 miles off Miami. There were 10 people on board but the fire is out and there are no injuries. I have not heard the extent of the damage. I see that the boat is listed on Yachtworld. I can think of very little that would scare me more than a fire at sea. Crew preparedness can never over emphasize the need for a good fire plan and fire fighting training. It sounds like the crew of the Seaduction were prepared.
Heading to Ft Lauderdale The Seaduction is in tow and heading to Ft Lauderdale. Maybe someone up there can get some pics.
I have seen a few 80-100 footers with no fire blanket for the galley....how much does that cost. I have also seen quite a few emergency fire pumps to be with very poor pressure. Not a place to be making savings. Both are deficiencies for flag/insurance surveys. (well i hope some Flags feel the same way). But for the fire-fighting and indeed any safety matter, the drills have to be performed on a regular basis so that people are doing them like robots because that is what it will be like, very distressing to be in that situation. We have arranged fire-fighting course for SOLAS passenger ship/yacht with the local fire department and that was some good training (with some rather large demonstration fires also.....) recommended for owners to arrange something similar, any fire-department should be able to do this. The procedures and requirements are all there already for the SOLAS passenger ships and it would be recommended to voluntarily follow these regulations and courses for the yacht crews even if they are not required to. On the passenger ships there are even crowd management courses which must be passed and these abilities are examined in the lifeboat muster drills for flag survey.
Another Yacht Fire This fire happened over the weekend here in La Paz Mexico http://www.la-paz-bcs.com/blog/?p=64
Lets hope it wasn't the cook!! I thought fire control and suppression systems were compulsory on vessels this size? Time.