After sailing from Aberdeen in ballast, the engine room fire alarm sounded on board a tanker. The main engine was then stopped, the emergency fire pump started and the fire flaps closed.
This sealed the engine room, and fire hoses were rigged. An initial inspection by the second engineer and a crewman, in conditions of poor visibility, found no flames in the engine room.
However, a second inspection by the chief engineer and the crewman a few minutes later, found flames at the forward end of the main engine in the region of the turbocharger.
A decision was then made to flood the engine room with CO2. Once this was released, the pump room bulkhead was monitored and boundary cooling used as required.
Monitoring continued until about 3 1/2 hours after the CO2 was released, when another inspection of the engine room found all fire extinguished.
The vessel was later towed for repair, where a pinhole was found in a low-pressure fuel line at the forward end of the main engine. This had allowed fuel to spray on to the exhaust system. This hole had been caused by part of an exhaust guard coming into contact with the pipe and, over time, wearing it through.
LESSONS LEARNT
– This incident emphasises the importance of maintaining the security of piping systems and keeping them clear of other pieces of equipment, which might cause damage.
– Fires require heat, fuel and oxygen. Any fuel line running near a heat source is a potential danger. It does not necessarily require a leaking joint to provide the fuel source; a damaged line can do the job just as well. Effective risk assessment should identify likely hot spots in the vicinity of fuel lines and steps should be taken to remove or minimise that risk before it is too late.
– Once the fire had started, this incident also demonstrates a logical procedure for handling the situation. But don’t be too tempted to re-enter a sealed-off engine room too quickly. Remember the oxygen.
Ship Happens !
The Deep Draft 
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