Boat Fire Safety Week - announcement from the Boat Safety Scheme

It may interest your colleagues to know that fire and rescue services (FRS) across the UK together with the Boat Safety Scheme will be urging boat owners to fit smoke alarms on any boats with overnight accommodation during Boat Fire Safety Week between 2008, May 24-31.

The message for boat owners also supports the advertising campaign from Fire Kills section of the Department for Communities urging people to fit suitable smoke alarms and test them routinely.

In 2007, five boaters died in fires and explosions on inland waterways craft. At least three of those incidents could have had very different outcomes if there had been a working smoke alarm aboard.

It is possible that your teams will be approached by FRS with the aim of making presentations to your customers; alternatively you may wish to contact either your local fire station or the area community fire safety officer to see if the local crews have plans to participate in this year’s events.

Many FRS will be offering free fire safety advice and smoke alarms to their local boat owners. Boaters should contact their local fire station to find out if activities are planned for the week in their area.

The FRS are being briefed to contact their local navigation and harbour authorities to help identify any areas where there are high concentrations of boats whose owners might welcome advice.

During the week and depending on the area, participating fire services will be offering boat owners free Boat Fire Safety Checks (BFSC) carried out by fire service personnel.

Owners wanting to know if the service where their boat is lying is participating can find the contact details of the FRS on http://www.fire.gov.uk/Find+my+region.htm ; there is much more advice on fire safety, choice of alarms and fire and rescue services on www.boatsafetyscheme.com/fire.

Project contact at the BSS

BSS communications manager, Rob McLean, d/l: 01923 201353 mbl: 07710 175478

Brief notes on just a few examples of a year of incidents

January 2007

A young lady had joined her boyfriend on his narrowboat a couple of weeks before the incident.

Following a night a local pub, the couple returned to their boat for a nightcap, before going to bed.

They also stoked up the solid fuel stove as the night was cold. Investigators believe the heat radiated from the stove to nearby combustible materials. In the resulting fire, the young lady was trapped in the bathroom and died from the smoke and fumes.

Her boyfriend woke to find his boat ablaze. He burnt arms severely in making an unsuccessful rescue attempt.

No smoke alarm was fitted

January 2007

A man living alone on his narrowboat had previously had a fire aboard when cooking. This evening he returned to his boat and decided to cook chips in a pan on the boat’s galley stove. Unfortunately he fell asleep. The pan overheated and the boiling oil caught fire and then set the boat alight.

The man died from smoke and fume inhalation.

Fire investigators found a brand new electric chip fryer with safety cut-outs still in box in a cupboard on the boat.

No smoke alarms were fitted.

February 2007

Another man living alone on his new narrowboat, moored in an East Midlands marina decided to cook a chop on the grill.

He fell asleep while the chop kept cooking. Eventually it caught fire and the flames spread to the varnished pine cladding surrounding the galley stove.

The man must have been woken, as he was found overcome by smoke and fumes in the door between the galley and another room.

The fire extinguished itself and the damage to the boat was very limited.

There was no smoke alarm on the boat to warn the man of the impending danger.

March 2008

A narrowboat moored in a marina had a Boat Fire Safety Check the previous summer and the firefighters had fitted a smoke alarm.

One evening in March, it was left unattended with a solid fuel stove banked up ready for one of the owner’s return later that night. Just before midnight, a neighbouring boater was woken by the alarm sounding. He organised a hosepipe and played water onto the fire through a window of the unattended boat until the local fire & rescue unit was able to arrive.

Fire reports of incidents on narrowboats often suggest that the fire spread quickly. Almost certainly in this case, the smoke alarm was the key factor in the early alert and rapid turn out of the fire and rescue service, as well as the neighbour’s swift action. The boat’s owners were fortunate in this instance to have a salvageable craft.

The fire had started when heat from stove radiated through ceramic tiles stuck onto a wooden wardrobe less than a foot away from the stove.

15.5.08