Vehicle fire forces ferry to return to Tsawwassen

[ferryrider42]

Vehicle fire forces ferry to return to Tsawwassen
Times Colonist and Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, August 15, 2008

One of B.C. Ferries new vessels, the Coastal Inspiration, had to turn around and return to Tsawwassen today after a fire ignited mattresses packed inside a cube van on the main car deck.

All passengers aboard the 12:45 p.m. sailing, bound for Duke Point, were evacuated safety but the vehicles remained on the ship as crews battled the blaze, said spokeswoman Deborah Marshall.

The cube van on the main car deck prompted the ferry crew to deploy a fire-suppression system, Marshall said.

The vessel turned around and returned to Tsawwassen where Delta Fire Department firefighters were standing by. Transport Canada officials inspected the damage and approved the ferry for service.

The damaged van was towed from the vessel and passengers reloaded for departure just after 6 p.m.

No injuries were reported.

All 552 passengers on the 12:45 p.m. sailing of the Coastal Inspiration from Tsawwassen to Duke Point disembarked without injury after it returned to port.

Passenger Jim Muir said 20 minutes into the trip from Tsawwassen to Duke Point, the crew announced the ferry would be returning to dock due to a vehicle fire. All passengers were asked to remain in the cafeteria and lounge area.

"There was smoke on the main deck - quite a lot of smoke," he said. He said he saw two firetrucks and an ambulance waiting at the ferry terminal as passengers disembarked.


The fire occurred at the start of a traditionally busy weekend for B.C. Ferries. There was a two-sailing wait Friday afternoon at Tsawwassen for passengers heading to Duke Point and Swartz Bay.

Extra sailings will be put on the Tsawwassen to Duke Point run this evening to clear the backlog of travellers, said Marshall.

Passengers at Swartz Bay heading to the mainland faced a one-sailing wait Friday afternoon.

www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=5aa00887-5068-43ed-8f9c-7c3d97a3050f

[ferryrider42]

The CBC also has some online media on this subject

VIDEO - Passengers from Coastal Inspiration describe fire about BC Ferry (Runs 2:01)


VIDEO - David Hahn discusses the fire aboard Coastal Inspiration (Runs 7:49)


AUDIO - AUDIO: Meera Bains reports on BC Ferry fire from Tsawwassen terminal (Runs 0:59)


AUDIO: BC Ferry spokesperson Deborah Marshall describes ferry fire to Wilson Wong (Runs 1:32)

[ferryrider42]

BC Ferries vessel cleared by Transport Canada after fire, evacuation
Last Updated: Friday, August 15, 2008 | 10:49 PM ET
CBC News

BC Ferries' Coastal Inspiration is back in service after a fire on the main car deck forced the ship to turn back Friday afternoon.

Deborah Marshall, media relations director for BC Ferries, said passengers, whose vehicles remained aboard while their owners were forced off the vessel during the fire, got back onto the ferry and sailed to Duke Point, near Nanaimo, at 6:20 p.m. PT Friday.

The ferry voyage launched after Transport Canada cleared the ship for travel.

Marshall said if there was still a backlog of passengers remaining after all the scheduled voyages Friday night, BC Ferries would add extra journeys later Friday night to clear it.

There were 562 people and 201 cars aboard the 12:45 p.m. PT voyage that travels between Tsawwassen, near Vancouver, and Duke Point, near Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

Passengers from Coastal Inspiration wait for news after the BC Ferries ship was evacuated Friday afternoon. (CBC)
The fire started in a five-tonne cube van in the stern of the ship on one of the vehicle decks, according to Marshall. She said mattresses in the back of the van burst into flames.

The ship turned back about 10 kilometres away from Tsawwassen, and it was evacuated when it returned to shore.

Foot passengers from the original voyage were allowed to take earlier trips on the popular route between the Mainland and the Island, while vehicle passengers had to wait with their cars for Coastal Inspiration to sail again.

While there are usually two ferries operating on that route, there was only one for five hours Friday afternoon.

"Nobody knew what was going on"
While no injuries have been reported, some passengers said they thought the evacuation was chaotic.

"They were telling us to go one way, and others were telling us to go this way, and then they locked us all in the cafeteria with one little door to get out and not telling us what's going on except that it's a fire," said Doug Finlayson, a passenger.

"If had been a real problem, nobody could have got out of the room and nobody knew what was going on," Finlayson said.

However, David Hahn, the chief executive officer of BC Ferries, said he is pleased with the way BC Ferries staff reacted to the emergency.

"There are no reports of anyone hurt or anyone with any medical issues so I would say that's a pretty big success," said Hahn.

Cause of fire still under investigation
Hahn wouldn't speculate about a cause of the blaze until an investigation was complete.

A fire in the back of this van forced the evacuation of Coastal Inspiration on the Tsawwassen to Duke Point route Friday afternoon. (BC Ferries)
"Why a mattress inside a Budget rental van would catch on fire, I think people have to guess for themselves and we'll let the police do the work. It's pretty odd."

Delta Fire and Emergency Services took the van from the ferry and will be investigating the cause of the fire.

When asked by reporters why the ship had to turn back, Delta Deputy Fire Chief Byron Funnell said, "It's a lot easier to fight fire from land than it is on water. The ferries themselves are fully equipped with sprinkler systems. They have suppression staff in the ferries [as well] that contain as much as they can in the ferry."

Other ferries leaving from the Tsawwassen terminal, including the ferry to the Victoria area, were not affected.

Marshall told CBC News that BC Ferries staff belonging to the "fire party" suited up to fight the fire and, "the vessel's sprinkler system was deployed. However, the Delta Fire Department attended the scene to contain the fire."

Funnell said when Delta emergency crews arrived, there was still a lot of smoke.

"BC Ferries crews, I understand, were able to extinguish the flames, and did not require coast guard assistance, but the vessel has turned back to Tsawwassen ferry terminal," said Dan Bates, a spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard.

The coast guard sent a hovercraft and its Osprey patrol vessel in case they were needed and had a Cormorant helicopter standing by.

The German-built Coastal Inspiration is one of BC Ferries' three new Super C-class vessels. The ship, which can hold up to 1,600 passengers and 370 cars, started service in June.

The ferry Coastal Renaissance went into service between Nanaimo and Horseshoe Bay in March, and Coastal Celebration was delivered in June. It's expected to start sailing between Tsawwassen and Victoria in the fall.

www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/08/15/bc-tsawwassen-ferry-fire.html

[ferryrider42]

Just a shout out to say ‘Kudos’ to all the BC Ferry employees who quickly took care of this. And, on top of that, I’m also very impressed at how quickly information was made public.

This is an excellent demonstration of how information should flow. Granted, the scale of the tragedies do not match; but I still can’t help to contrast today’s events with those of the 'MV Princess of the Stars' when it sank in a hurricane earlier this year. When it came to that Philippines ferry, obtaining any sort of recent information on the events was extremely difficult.

[Low Light Mike]

Aug 15, 2008 21:23:56 GMT -8 ferryrider42 said:

I’m also very impressed at how quickly information was made public.

You should check out some of our discussion on the fire, from this afternoon's forum action. The information wasn't as quick as you'd think, at least not on the BCFS website re a canceled sailing.

As usual, our forum had the news first, or so it seemed.

[Political Incorrectness]

CBC's link to passenger reaction is the same to Hahn's story.

I am not entirely sure if we got to it first but the radio had it before everyone else and BCFS had 0 notification. Bad on BC Ferries for not relaying information but I will give them credit for trying to relieve extra traffic as a result of the inconvenience.

[Hardy]

Quickly weighing in on this ... as a mover, I have several possible causes for a potential fire aboard a moving van. This looked (could not see all of it...) like a Budget Rent-A-Truck and was more than likely a DIY-er. Proper loading is imperative to keep loads from shifting and moving during the transport. This is also why moving companies prohibit things like MATCHES, JERRY CANS (even empty), COMPRESSED GASES, AEROSOLS, PAINT etc from the moving vans. I am not saying that any of these were the cause, but consider the following:
a) coulda been an "in-bed-smoker" and a smoldering "cherry" got left in some bedding;
b) matches thrown loosely in a nighttable or box vibrated together and ignited;
c) a BBQ lighter packed loosely in a box ignited;
d) partially full (or worse, EMPTY) gas can let vapours escape into the load, rising to the top, penetrating a mattress and super-heating causing ignition;
e) a compressed aerosol, WD-40-ish, got crushed, sprayed out and did a (d) above;
f) household cleaning liquids improperly closed or packed, leaked, mixed together and ignited.

Could be any of these, a combination of some, or just about any other cause. The ones I listed are some of the most common ones that we avoid as professional movers.

[Northern Exploration]

We now have three threads chatting about this but I will post here because it is the most current. It is amazing how word spreads these days. Dan told me on MSN about the fire. He emailed NEWS1130 and we both tuned in via the weblink and heard the first mention of the fire online. Here we are a half continent away and up to the second information.

BCFC wasn't exactly quick off the mark with information but a lot better than in the past. With the advent of wireless email, text messages and Blackberry communication there is a growing expectation on the public to get fast information. And a growing impatience with slow information. Especially with younger folks who have grown up in an instant world. I get text messages from Air Canada when my flight is changed or delayed etc. They seem to come much faster than the email from BCFC went out. You don't need to know all the details to send a notice. All you need to say is XX:XX sailing from TSW to Duke cancelled, xx:xx delayed, more information as it developes.

[katie]

The fire on the Coastal Inspriation is a nightmare for owners of pets on the car deck. From what I understand they did not allow the owners down to take their pets off the ferry.! I am wondering how many people may have been down on the car deck when that fire broke out, and they must have been allowed to leave, and that would be the day I would leave my dog in my vehicle to die on the car deck!! (If it was as serious as that!) There has to be an escape plan! I was horrified to hear this.....sounds like someone smoking in their cube van possbily causing the problem.

[CN2972South]

Aug 16, 2008 17:12:28 GMT -8 @katie said:

From what I understand they did not allow the owners down to take their pets off the ferry.!

They did allow owners to get their pets. I was at Tsawwassen waiting to go to Victoria while it was happening. Everyone was taken off the ferry while Transport Canada did their investigation. Pets on the upper car deck were not allowed off, but the pets on the main car deck were returned to their owners.

The CI left around 17:00, but came back 10 minutes later as they had left people behind at Tsawwassen. They left at 18:20 after searching the terminal for the missing people.

[Retrovision]

Oddly enough (forgive my lateness, I'm catching up on the acrchives after a recent hiatus), there was a helicopter publicity photo shoot the same day that I happened to capture while aboard the 12pm sailing of the Queen of Vancouver.

I posted a handful of my images from that day here:
ferriesbc.proboards20.com/index.cgi?board=gt&action=display&thread=3773&page=6#86388
...And there are more from that day and that photo shoot in the same series of pics on my flickr site.

[Deleted]

sounds scary. was there any smoke damage?