- Author
- Arvidson, M.
- Title
- Water Based Fire Protection Systems for Vehicle Decks on Ro-Ro Passenger Ferries.
- Coporate
- Swedish National Testing and Research Institute, Boras, Sweden
- Report
- SP REPORT 1997:03, 1997, 40 p.
- Keywords
- passenger vehicles | fire protection | ships | sprinkler systems | test methods | containers | cargo ships | fire statistics | scenarios | water
- Identifiers
- passenger ships; vehicle deck
- Abstract
- Although fires on vehicle decks aboard passenger ferries are rate the consequences can be disastrous. Statistics from 1978 to 1987 show that serious fire and explosion incidents are more frequent than capsize or sinking. However, fires in engine rooms has the highest freuency of fires leading to a serious incident, followed by fires in accommodation spaces and vehicle decks. Generally, fires in vehicles (onshore) are relatively rare, approximately one per 1000 registered vehicles. Less than 5% of all fires occur due to a crash or a collision and there is a tendency that this cause is decreasing. The most likely cause for a vehicle fire is a part failure, a fuel leak or a break. A majority of the fires start in the engine, running gear or wheel area. Arson or suspected arson in the second most likely cause. The number of fires in passenger cars and vans show an increase during recent years, while the number of fires in freight trucks and buses are fairly constant. The trend of increasing number of fires is likely to be due to arson. The report includes a proposal for a fire test method aimed for testing water based fire protection systems to be installed on vehicle decks. The test method simulates conditions and fire scenarios likely to occur on a vehicle deck, such as flowing petrol fires and fires in the cargo of a lorry. An acceptable fire protection system should be capable of suppressing fires in flowing petrol, preventing fire spread from the behicle of fire origin and reducing the temperature of exposure from the fire on the structure of the ship, to an acceptable level.