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Cruise Ship Fire System ‘Failed to Operate,’ Report Says

The Log - California Boating & Fishing News
By: Anthony Brazos | Thursday, January 06, 2011 9:32:00 AM

SAN DIEGO — A Coast Guard onboard inspection of a cruise ship that caught fire approximately 150 miles south of San Diego revealed problems with the 952-foot vessel’s fixed firefighting apparatus.


Photo by: U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jetta H. Disco
Coast Guard Keeps Watch — Lt. Ari Fitzwater, commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Edisto, a 110-foot patrol boat homeported in San Diego, watched as tugboats maneuvered the disabled cruise ship Carnival Splendor into the cruise ship terminal pier, Nov. 11.


Carnival Splendor arrived in San Diego Nov. 11 after an engine room fire knocked out power and left the ship adrift for four days off Baja California, Mexico.

A Coast Guard team investigating the blaze discovered the ship’s automatic fire suppression system failed to operate properly and that many of the system’s instruction panels and operating manuals gave incorrect information regarding operation of the equipment. In addition, the team found inadequacies in the physical machinery.

The team’s findings were published in two Coast Guard Marine Safety Alerts published Dec. 21.

The first alert, titled “Wrong Directions: A Recipe for Failure,” acknowledged that the ship’s firefighting crew responded quickly to put out the blaze with portable fire extinguishers. However, when the ship’s captain later attempted to activate the ship’s automatic CO2 fire suppression system from the bridge, nothing happened.

“Before (the fire) was declared completely extinguished and approximately five hours after the fire started, the master of the vessel made the decision to release CO2 from the vessel’s fixed firefighting system,” the report stated. “It failed to operate as designed. Subsequently, crewmembers were unable to activate it manually and CO2 was never directed into the machinery space.”

A ship’s fixed firefighting system is typically triggered by a device on the bridge called an enunciator panel. The panel releases CO2 and automatically closes various vents, doors and other systems to prevent the spread of fire. CO2 (carbon dioxide) is an inert gas that displaces oxygen that supports combustion.

The report also uncovered inaccuracies and inconsistencies in Carnival Splendor’s Firefighting Instruction Manual, including photographs, schematics and instructions that did not match the equipment on board.

A second Coast Guard Marine Safety Alert, titled “Simple Failures Render CO2 System Inoperative,” described leaky valves, pipes and hose connectors; stuck valves; valves with flimsily attached handles; and automatic actuators that did not function properly.

The report urged shipbuilders, insurers, owners, operators and system service personnel to “carefully and critically review, routinely inspect and maintain, verify and test their fixed firefighting installations to ensure that they will operate correctly during an emergency.”

The Nov. 8 blaze occurred during a scheduled seven-day cruise from Long Beach to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The fire was extinguished within an hour, but damage left the 13,300-gross-ton ship dead in the water and without generators to run ventilation systems and air conditioning, kitchen facilities and onboard toilets. No injuries were reported.

An ongoing investigation is under way to determine the exact cause of the blaze. The vessel will stay in San Diego at the 10th Avenue Pier until repairs are made.

Carnival Cruise officials said they hope the ship will be ready to sail again later this month.


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Not very comforting when you at sea with 4000 others. This actually ties in with the fact that this ship will have been out of commission for months despite having sustained little actual infrastructure damage. Dirty answer is that Carnival admitted the delay was because they could not locate the parts they needed.