Engine room fire onboard HMCS HALIFAX

[kratz]

Ref: Engine room fire onboard HMCS HALIFAX

BZ to the crew and RRT for their actions.

Navy says engine fire onboard HMCS Halifax 'minor'

Other fires have been reported on Canadian navy ships in the past few years

Mairin Prentiss · CBC News · Posted: Oct 27, 2018 5:42 PM AT | Last Updated: 34 minutes ago

A 'minor fire' broke out in a gas-turbine engine onboard HMCS Halifax on Friday morning, says the Royal Canadian Navy.
The frigate was off the coast of Norway at the time.

The fire was discovered by crew around 5:30 a.m. and extinguished quickly, said Department of National Defence spokesperson ‎Dan Le Bouthillier.

There have been other fires onboard naval ships in the past few years.

"A fire at sea is never a good thing, but it seems like the vast majority of these incidents have been pretty minor," said Le Bouthillier. "And if you look at this incident as well, so far their assessment is that she should be continuing on with her deployment."

There were no injuries, Le Bouthillier said.

The crew is investigating the cause of the fire and will determine if the engine is serviceable.

"Sailors of the RCN are highly trained and exercised to deal with a variety of damage-control scenarios," Le Bouthillier said. "It is a key component of crew competencies when operating a warship to ensure it is capable of floating and moving in order to continue the fight."

HMCS Halifax is participating in a NATO exercise in the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea until Nov.  7.

Canada has sent approximately 2,000 personnel to join 31 partner countries in the training exercise.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Uh-huh.

I have seen more than one press release from the RCN describing a "minor fire" that was nothing of the sort.

Not saying they are lying in this case, but, fool me twice...

 

[brihard]

I know nothing about naval fires. Would it be contradictory to describe a fire as 'minor', and then in the same moment describe crews as working to determine "if the engine is serviceable"?

 

[Navy_Pete]

I know nothing about naval fires. Would it be contradictory to describe a fire as 'minor', and then in the same moment describe crews as working to determine "if the engine is serviceable"?

Nope, had several fires, in each case the crew was able to do the repairs to get the equipment up and running.  It depends on cause, if it was internal or external, what got damaged (if anything), extent of the fire, etc.

 

[Stoker]

While any fire at sea is serious, the fire was in the Gas Turbine enclosure and the fine water spray fitted system took care of it. If its repairable by the crew it will be done, if not probably wait until they get back to Halifax if the cruise diesel is serviceable.

 

[FSTO]

You still have one GT and the Diesel. Not big deal if it is U/S, they can likely fix it in the next port visit.

 

[NavyShooter]

It's a loss of redundancy, and a reduction in speed.  Assuming it was a GT - was it possibly one of the DG's?  I've had several of those 'spark up' on ships I've been on.

If the fire was in the enclosure, and the FWS (Fine Water Spray) system put it out, then it was probably quickly extinguished, and minimal damage.

NS

 

[Navy_Pete]

It's a loss of redundancy, and a reduction in speed.  Assuming it was a GT - was it possibly one of the DG's?  I've had several of those 'spark up' on ships I've been on.

If the fire was in the enclosure, and the FWS (Fine Water Spray) system put it out, then it was probably quickly extinguished, and minimal damage.

NS

One of the best recent changes in the DC side is the push to use the fitted system right away; that saves a huge amount of damage and fire spread. The enclosure fires are a no brainer, but they've applied the same to the overhead spray systems, halon, etc, and after about five years it's now ingrained. After having a few fires in spaces with and without fitted systems, it makes a huge difference.  With the FWS system, it can be activated quick enough that it's on as the alarm is going out to the ship, and they are really effective, so the fire can get put out before people that were sleeping even have their boots on.

 

[Furniture]

One of the best recent changes in the DC side is the push to use the fitted system right away; that saves a huge amount of damage and fire spread. The enclosure fires are a no brainer, but they've applied the same to the overhead spray systems, halon, etc, and after about five years it's now ingrained. After having a few fires in spaces with and without fitted systems, it makes a huge difference.  With the FWS system, it can be activated quick enough that it's on as the alarm is going out to the ship, and they are really effective, so the fire can get put out before people that were sleeping even have their boots on.

We had that happen on WIN in the middle of departing Tokyo a few years back, fire was out before the ship was closed up at emergency stations.

 

[Privateer]

And now in TORONTO.  Quoted from a Tweet by MARLANT:

HMCS Toronto arrived in Belfast late afternoon 30 Oct. As the ship was docking, crew detected an engine enclosure fire. Well trained crew immediately engaged ship's fitted suppression system. Quickly extinguished. No injuries. Investigation, maintenance ongoing.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RCN_MARLANT/status/1057684686544273409

 

[Lumber]

I love how there's an official RCN Twitter account but you can't access Twitter on DWAN....

 

[NavyHopeful]

I love how there's an official RCN Twitter account but you can't access Twitter on DWAN....

It's a new Navy.  Sad part is, the Twitter account usually updates things like base closures for snow almost an hour before the storm phone lines get updated. 

SkyNet is becoming self-aware

 

[Lumber]

It's a new Navy.  Sad part is, the Twitter account usually updates things like base closures for snow almost an hour before the storm phone lines get updated. 

SkyNet is becoming self-aware

That's funny, because they are both done by the OOD and they are both done at the same time.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

HMCS Toronto arrived in Belfast late afternoon 30 Oct. As the ship was docking, crew detected an engine enclosure fire. Well trained crew immediately engaged ship's fitted suppression system. Quickly extinguished. No injuries. Investigation, maintenance ongoing.

Must have gotten everything fixed up pretty quickly as HMCS Toronto is presently a couple hundred miles off the coast from Penzance, UK and cruising along at 22 kts.

 

[Stoker]

Must have gotten everything fixed up pretty quickly as HMCS Toronto is presently a couple hundred miles off the coast from Penzance, UK and cruising along at 22 kts.

Yes she was in and out quite quickly.