- Author
- Sprague, C. M. | Prasad, A. V. | White, D. A. | Dolph, B.
- Title
- Fire Safety Analysis of 270' WMEC Medium Endurance Cutter.
- Coporate
- MicroSystems Integration, Inc., Pawcatuck, CT Hughes Associates, Inc., Baltimore, MD U.S. Coast Guard, Groton, CT
- Sponsor
- U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC
- Report
- CG-D-05-99, October 1998, 262 p.
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161. Telephone: 1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000; Fax: 703-605-6900. Website: http://www.ntis.gov
- Keywords
- fire protection | fire safety | methology | shipboard fires | safety engineering | computer programs | risk analysis | fire fighting training
- Abstract
- This report documents the results of comprehensive fire safety analysis of the 270' WMEC Medium Endurance Cutter. The Ship Fire Safety Engineering Methodology (SFSWI) and associated computer program, SAFE version 2,2 were utilized as an analytical tool to perform the analysis. The SFSEM is a probabilistic based fire risk analysis methodology. It is useful to conduct a structured and comprehensive analysis of the performance of all types of surface ships as a fire safety system. The SFSEM provides an integrated framework for analyzing fires on ships in comparison to established fire safety objectives. It accounts for 411 relevant aspects of fire safety including the growth and spread of fire, the effectiveness of passive design features such as barriers, and active fire protection features such as fixed and portable fire extinguishing systems, as well as manual fire suppression. SAFE implements the SFSEM and evaluates the probability of space and barriers limiting a fire. The evaluation is conducted on a compartment-by-comment basis. SAFE calculates the probable paths of fire spread for a user-specified time duration. SFSEM/SAFE has been successfully used to analyze the fire safety design of existing as well as proposed ships. The input data was based on information collected during a ship visit to the CGC SPENCER (WMEC 905) during the period 22-24 July 1996. Baseline fire safety analysis tests show that with all passive mnd active fire protection features in effect, all compartmmts in the cutter exceed established fire safety objectives both in port and at sea. With just passive fire protection in effect (without considering automated or manual fire protection), one compartment in the 270' WMEC fails to meet fire safety objectives in port and sea. Passive protection must be augmented by manual fire protection for all compartments to meet or exceed fire safety objectives in port and at sea. Probable rooms of origin for fires that may spread to involve multiple compartments include the Engine Room, 3-103-O-E, and the Auxiliary Machinery Spaces 2-82-O-E and 3-82-O-E). A careful analysis of the results from the various output options in SAFE provided in this repot may be effectively used to develop realistic firescenarios to assist the crew in planning firefighting training drills.