| The Transportation Safety Board of Canada reports that "On 19/09/1997 While in Agamemnon Channel on passage from Jervis Inlet to Vancouver, running light without barges, the tug "LAWRENCE L" suffered a fire in the engine room. A solvent was poured onto the side of the main engine, for cleaning purposes, and the gases ignited. The fire spread into the fibre-board acoustic tiles and wood grounds of the deckhead covering. Fire extinguishers were used to put out the fire on and around the engine and to control the deckhead fire until the tug reached the dock at Earls Cove. Approaching the dock the fixed CO2 system was released into the engine room without stopping the main engine or shutting off ventilation. At the dock, assistance was rendered by crews of other vessels and shore persons, and a hose was used to finally extinguish the fire in the deckhead. " "The "LAWRENCE L" is a steel tug of conventional lay-out, with the wheelhouse located over the accommodation in a deck house on the maindeck. The main access to the engine room is by ladder from inside the starboard aft side of the accommodation/galley into the after end of the engine room. There is also an escape hatch at the forward end of the engine room up onto the foredeck. The engine room deckhead is lined with sound-proofing, fibre-board acoustic tiles mounted on wood grounds. The tiles are of the type that are perforated with small holes. A storage locker and workbench are located at the forward end of the engine room. The main engine is a high speed, V12, two stroke diesel with four turbo-chargers, two per side. The air intakes for the two turbo-chargers on each side are located above the engine in the centre of the cylinder heads. A rubber pipe connects each turbo-charger air intake to the corresponding air filter. The engine can only be stopped in the engine room either at the governor or at the side of the gearbox aft of the engine. Prior to stopping the engine, it must be first slowed to idling speed before the stop controls will operate. For fire and other emergencies the daily service fuel tank has a remotely operated quick closing valve. The vessel was built in 1963, re-engined and reclassed as a new vessel in 1976." |
