Alabama fire: Eight killed as blaze engulfs 35 boats in marina

[Captain Bill]

I don't think these marina fires are all that uncommon at all. Covered marinas are terribly dangerous. The roof traps the heat and sets fiberglass and wooden boats on fire very quickly. There was a fire in Washington NC ten tears ago or so that destroyed every boat under the roof. I would never keep my boat in a covered marina. Given how few covered marinas actually exist the number of very destructive fires is relatively high. Fires in Marinas are not that uncommon, but only covered marinas result in the loss of more than a couple of boats before the fire is brought under control. If you are under such a cover and the fire starts between you and the land side of the pier it is likely that the your choice will be to jump in the water at best and if it's winter and the water is near freezing there is a good chance you won't survive that either.

[Brewgyver]

This particular fire could have been caused by any number of things. Given that it started after midnight, it could have been as simple as somebody falling asleep with a lit cigarette.

Of the eight known dead, six were a mother and her five children. The husband/father escaped with burns...

[Taipe]

[QUOTE=Paul L;3064882]I doubt that statement about phone chargers as being number one cause of fires. They don't rank on the top 6 from Boat US insurance.


Hi Paul,

Thanks for your input. I was a bit surprised at the fire chief's comment myself. Perhaps he was referring to his own experience, I don't know. He did qualify his remark as among all causes of electrical fires, not all fires.

[lancelot9898]

I just posted a message over on the liveaboard forum about problems with electrical heaters

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by Taipe

Thanks for your input. I was a bit surprised at the fire chief's comment myself. Perhaps he was referring to his own experience, I don't know. He did qualify his remark as among all causes of electrical fires, not all fires.

Yes, that was interesting but I would suggest that cheap AC chargers are a very high risk item. There was an interesting article on macrumours recently where they dismantled and compared apple power supplies with cheap clones from Amazon and the internal high voltage wiring on some of them was terrifying. I won't have them on my boat.

[Paul L]

[QUOTE=Taipe;3065085]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I doubt that statement about phone chargers as being number one cause of fires. They don't rank on the top 6 from Boat US insurance.


Hi Paul,

Thanks for your input. I was a bit surprised at the fire chief's comment myself. Perhaps he was referring to his own experience, I don't know. He did qualify his remark as among all causes of electrical fires, not all fires.

While chargers are not apperently in the top reasons for boat fires, they are clearly a risk. Many cruising boats might be left with half a dozen lithium batteries charging in their various phones, tablets, handheld radios, usb boosters, laptops, razors, portable nav lights, flashlights, headphones, speakers, cameras, dive lights, rechargable AA and AAA batteries,.....
Maybe a half dozen is too low a number.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by Tillsbury

Yes, that was interesting but I would suggest that cheap AC chargers are a very high risk item. There was an interesting article on macrumours recently where they dismantled and compared apple power supplies with cheap clones from Amazon and the internal high voltage wiring on some of them was terrifying. I won't have them on my boat.

You and Paul are spot on. There have been a number of articles about the cheap replacement chargers. Some have talked about the danger to one's phone and others have talked about the fire danger. All of them pointed out that the construction and design are often not up to snuff. Their output tends to vary quite a bit, and not meet the manufacturers' specifications. They tend to kill batteries in phones and cause the service life to shorten quite a bit.

The articles that talk about the construction and lack of quality usually point out the issues with excessive heat and over charging.

There was quite a discussion among divers and on the thread about the dive boat fire in California. The consensus of opinion is that these combined with lithium ion batteries are a serious fire hazard.

[capt_TE]

Originally Posted by Cpt Mark

Question. How many of you have 1 or more smoke alarms on board? Auto fire extinguishers?

I've got 4 smoke alarms: 1 in captains cabin, 1 in the doghouse, 1 in the kitchen, 1 in motor room. No auto fire extinguishers but plenty of manual fire fighting equipment

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

You and Paul are spot on. There have been a number of articles about the cheap replacement chargers. Some have talked about the danger to one's phone and others have talked about the fire danger. All of them pointed out that the construction and design are often not up to snuff. Their output tends to vary quite a bit, and not meet the manufacturers' specifications. They tend to kill batteries in phones and cause the service life to shorten quite a bit.

......

Cheap chargers are certainly suspect, but on a boat so are the factory originals. These chargers are not built to take the long term, corrosive effects of life on a cruising boat.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Cheap chargers are certainly suspect, but on a boat so are the factory originals. These chargers are not built to take the long term, corrosive effects of life on a cruising boat.

Your comment on corrosion is also very relevant. Many of the shore power fires are due to corrosion. The same is true with bad wiring.

[Jim Cate]

Of the eight known dead, six were a mother and her five children. The husband/father escaped with burns...

OH, that poor bugger! He's gonna need some help I reckon. Beyond what most folks can cope with.

Jim

[Fortytwo]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I doubt that statement about phone chargers as being number one cause of fires. They don't rank on the top 6 from Boat US insurance.



6 causes of boat fires

All those except #5 are electrical fires. #1 just means that someone else had an electrical fire that burned up 34 other boats.

The prime suspect in the dive boat Conception fire is phone/camera charges. Not by defect or corrosion of the chargers, but by over loading the circuit.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Fortytwo

All those except #5 are electrical fires. #1 just means that someone else had an electrical fire that burned up 34 other boats.

The prime suspect in the dive boat Conception fire is phone/camera charges. Not by defect or corrosion of the chargers, but by over loading the circuit.

Surely AC electric is a major cause of boat fires, especially in the winter when electric heaters are in use.

[Fortytwo]

Electric heaters take more power then a power strip of phone chargers. They would definitely put more of a load on a circuit.

You would have to look at the whole circuit. If you have an old power strip on the boat... throw it out. And if you have a new one, return it...

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Fortytwo

All those except #5 are electrical fires. #1 just means that someone else had an electrical fire that burned up 34 other boats.

The2 prime suspect in the dive boat Conception fire is phone/camera charges. Not by defect or corrosion of the chargers, but by over loading the circuit.

Do you have any evidence that cuase of this fire was due to generic current overloading versus a lithium battery charging meltdown? The battery meltdoens can occur at relatively low currents.