NTSB REPORT DETERMINES PROBABLE CAUSE IN MISS DOROTHY VESSEL TOWING FIRE
An engine room fire aboard a towing vessel started when diesel fuel spray hit an uninsulated section of the engine’s exhaust system, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report has revealed.
On March 17, 2021, the towing vessel Miss Dorothy was pushing 14 barges upbound on the Lower Mississippi River, north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when a fire broke out in the engine room. The eight crewmembers aboard briefly attempted to fight the fire but were unsuccessful and evacuated to the barges. No pollution or
injuries were reported and the vessel was declared a total loss at $2.4 million.
According to the NTSB’s Marine Investigation Report fire alarms began to sound in the pilot house and throughout the vessel shortly after midnight. The pilot saw smoke that “grew in intensity very quickly” and flames coming from the starboard main engine in the engine room. The crew attempted to use fire hoses and handheld extinguishers to fight the fire. Shortly after, the chief engineer activated the ventilation shutdown and pulled the emergency fuel oil shutoff for the fuel tank that supplied the starboard main engine. However, air continued to be drawn in through open engine room doors and open or broken windows, and the shutoff valve remained open because the shutoff did not function as intended and the fire continued to grow despite the crew’s efforts.
The captain ordered the crew to abandon ship, and the crew was rescued by a Good Samaritan vessel, which then secured the tow against the bank. The fire was extinguished several hours later by first responders and crew aboard the Good Samaritan vessel.
Regulations for towing vessels state that “piping and machinery components that exceed 220°C (428°F), including fittings, flanges, valves, exhaust manifolds, and turbochargers, must be insulated.” Investigators found that the exhaust header leading from the individual cylinder heads to the exhaust manifold in the Miss Dorothy, which were subject to temperatures greater than 428°F (often higher than 600°F), near the suspected origin of the fire were uninsulated. NTSB investigators concluded it is likely that the uninsulated exhaust header acted as an ignition point for the atomized or spraying diesel fuel.
The NTSB determined the probable cause of the engine room fire was the ignition of spraying diesel fuel from a main engine’s fuel system onto an uninsulated section of the engine’s exhaust system. Contributing to the severity of the fire and damage to the vessel was the inability to effectively secure ventilation to the space and fuel to the affected engine.
Download the full report at
https://bit.ly/3K6DQqL. CONTAINER LOADED WITH DISCARDED LITHIUM BATTERIES CATCHES FIRE
The U.S. Coast Guard has issued a safety alert and is warning about the hazards of transporting discarded lithium batteries after a container illegally loaded with them caught fire while en route to the Port of Virginia, where it was set to be loaded onto a ship.
Thankfully the container was not loaded on a ship at the time. Rather, the container was being transported on a chassis from Raleigh, North Carolina when the discarded lithium batteries caught fire on the highway on August 19, 2021, resulting in loss of the cargo and significant damage to the shipping container.
It seems the shipping industry may have avoided another potential disaster since the container was intended for a maritime voyage to a port in China via a foreign-flagged containership. Upon initial investigation of the container, the responding fire department determined that the heat produced from the fire burned hot enough to create a hole through the metal container’s structure.
The Report • June 2022 • Issue 100 | 23
Safety Briefings
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