540
SAFETY DEVICES AND EQUIPMENT
Studio ti 03312 540-04usa
276
12
12.6 FIRE EMERGENCY
In case of fire, the captain of the yacht should immediately:
− stop the yacht and shut down all engines, including the generator;
− switch OFF all battery power;
− locate the fire and activate all available fire extinguishing equipment
following standard fire fighting techniques;
− close the air intakes and the ventilators in the engineroom;
− avoid breathing smoke.
− Have everyone aboard don a life jacket and move quickly and safely
away from the fire.
− Assign one person to be in charge of your abandon ship bag, which
should include a fully charged hand-held VHF radio, emergency
flares, dye markers, bottled water, and anything else needed to
survive at sea.
− Contact the Coast Guard on VHF channel 16 (156.800 MHz) or SSB
radio frequency 2182 kHz. Say, “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY!”.
Describe the situation. Describe the vessel. Give your location and
the number of people aboard.
− If you have an emergency life raft, prepare it for deployment.
− If you have a tender, launch it immediately, before you lose electrical
power.
− Unless other dangers make maneuvering power necessary,
immediately shutdown both engines, if the automatic system has not
already done so.
− Shut down all electrical power except for the bilge pumps, navigation
lights, and VHF or SSB radios.
− Extinguish all open flames.
− Do not open the engineroom access hatches for at least 15 minutes.
− Verify that the fire is totally extinguished by carefully feeling around
the hatches and bulkhead to ensure that these surfaces are cool
before opening any hatches.
− Stand by with portable hand-held extinguishers, in case the fire
spreads past the engineroom or re-ignites.
If the fire is in the engineroom, the automatic firefighting system may have
shut down the engines and discharged the firefighting chemical. Read the
section on Engineroom Fixed Firefighting System that follows, to learn
how this system operates in the event of an engineroom fire.
If the fire involved the engines or engine compartment, care should be
taken to determine the cause of the fire before restarting the engine(s).
Study the FIRE PREVENTION and FIREFIGHTING SYSTEMS sections
in this chapter.
S
CAUTION
Fire fighting equipment and controls must be accessible at all times.
Hindering the access to fire fighting equipment and controls could result
in serious injury or death and property damage.
j
WARNING
Do not open engineroom access hatch, until the fire is completely
extinguished.
To Next Page
Loading...