Fire onboard Carnival Sensation last night

[NoName]

We were awoken last night by a code alpha and then 30 minutes later by an announcement by the captain and the cruise director that there was a fire on deck 6. They announced that the fire was out and that passengers on that deck please give them more time before returning to their room as they were working on the smoke.

 

I was on deck 5 and didn't experience any smoke, but overhead deck 6 passengers complaining this morning that no one knocked on their door to tell them to leave they just heard the commotion in the hall so opened the door to see what. Was going on. They described it as a wall of smoke.

[pe4all]

Hopefully no one was hurt.  Would be interesting to find out if it was electrical in nature, or due to a passenger smoking. 

[Aplmac]

Carnival Corp.

needs to sell all those Old Things (Fantasy Class)

which would modernize the fleet substantially!

[NoName]

25 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

Carnival Corp.

needs to sell all those Old Things (Fantasy Class)

which would modernize the fleet substantially!

I agree....these old boats don't represent what I think of when I think of Carnival.

[shof515]

48 minutes ago, NoName said:

I was on deck 5 and didn't experience any smoke, but overhead deck 6 passengers complaining this morning that no one knocked on their door to tell them to leave they just heard the commotion in the hall so opened the door to see what. Was going on. They described it as a wall of smoke.

depending on the door and the ducting system, sometimes is best to stay in the cabin and let the smoke dissipate

[Mommawo]

My goodness!!! I’m sure that was scary! My daughter was on the Dream when that big water leak happened 

[FSHLOT]

47 minutes ago, pe4all said:

Hopefully no one was hurt.  Would be interesting to find out if it was electrical in nature, or due to a passenger smoking. 

Here we go with the smoking. You know, the smoking which never caused a fire on a ship in how long? Like ever...lol

I know some on these boards kind of wish it was from a smoker so they can say "I told you so"....😝

Edited February 11, 2019 by FSHLOT

[NutsAboutGolf]

15 minutes ago, shof515 said:

depending on the door and the ducting system, sometimes is best to stay in the cabin and let the smoke dissipate

 

This!  Fire fighters often recommend sleeping with the bedroom door shut in your home for this reason.

Edited February 11, 2019 by NutsAboutGolf

[bury me at sea]

Fire on a ship is frightening, to state the obvious.  Thank goodness that as far as we know there were no injuries.

[FTLCruiseGal]

The doors on the ships are fire rated.  I believe they have to be a minimum of two hour fire rating.  Probably safer staying in the room instead of going out into a smoke filled hallway and risk smoke inhalation or burn.  And please don't flame (pun intended) me about safety and getting out in case of fire.  Chances are that it would be out well before it reaches the time the fire rating wears out.

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, Aplmac said:

Carnival Corp.

needs to sell all those Old Things (Fantasy Class)

which would modernize the fleet substantially!

 

Why would Carnival sell over 30% of their current revenue producing ships?  That makes no sense at all. I understand you may not like the Fantasy class ships, but a lot of people obviously still do, not to mention people who prefer the older, smaller ships. 

[cccer]

2 hours ago, Aplmac said:

Carnival Corp.

needs to sell all those Old Things (Fantasy Class)

which would modernize the fleet substantially!

 

How exactly is this supposed to prevent fires.  I am pretty sure that fires can occur on new ships as well as old ships.  

Perhaps you should start a new thread on how you dislike Fantasy Class ships.

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, NoName said:

We were awoken last night by a code alpha and then 30 minutes later by an announcement by the captain and the cruise director that there was a fire on deck 6. They announced that the fire was out and that passengers on that deck please give them more time before returning to their room as they were working on the smoke.

 

I was on deck 5 and didn't experience any smoke, but overhead deck 6 passengers complaining this morning that no one knocked on their door to tell them to leave they just heard the commotion in the hall so opened the door to see what. Was going on. They described it as a wall of smoke.

Okay, let's step back and look at a few things that previous posters have said:

 

First, since there is no indication that the fire was caused by any ship's system (even an electrical fire would have been caused by the passenger's appliances or extension cord and not ship's wiring) there is no reason to condemn an entire class of ship.

 

Next, fire doors.  The best fire doors on the ship are "A-60" class, meaning it will take 60 minutes before there is enough heat transferred through the door to start combustion on the other side.  Cabin doors are "B-15" doors, meaning they will only block combustion for 15 minutes.  You will notice that cabin doors to the passageway have a gap under them, and that immediately removes them from an "A" fire rating, let alone a 60 minute rating.

 

Why do the doors have a gap under them?  Because the air provided to the cabin by the AC system is more than the amount of air removed by the bathroom exhaust vent, creating a slight overpressure.  This overpressure is designed to keep smoke from migrating through the myriad of cracks and joints in the cabin joinery.  To balance this overpressure, excess air escapes under the door to the passageway which is at a lower pressure.

 

As for notifications, if a code alpha was all that was called, then only the emergency teams respond, not the full crew, and until it is determined that there is a need for a full muster and accountability of all passengers, that is that.  This decision will be made by the Captain upon recommendation of the On Scene Commander.

 

And for evacuation, not everyone on a deck that has a fire would be evacuated.  Only those in the active fire zone would be considered, until a general passenger muster is signaled.  The ship is divided into "vertical fire zones" (5-8 per ship) where an "A-60" fire boundary makes a straight vertical line from the keel to the top of the ship, and each of these fire zones have separate ventilation and power supplies, so that ventilation and power can be secured to the fire zone, without affecting the rest of the ship.  Those doors in the passageways that keep you from getting to your cabins on turnaround day are fire zone boundary doors (as are the ones you see recessed into the passageways along the hall).  And even inside the active fire zone, the crew has procedures and protocols for evacuating passengers from the area.  If it is found to be a small fire (like a trash can fire or a surge protector) that is easily extinguished, regardless of the presence of smoke, they likely won't evacuate more than a few surrounding cabins.  As noted, staying in your cabin will prevent smoke coming in.

[pe4all]

1 hour ago, FSHLOT said:

Here we go with the smoking. You know, the smoking which never caused a fire on a ship in how long? Like ever...lol

I know some on these boards kind of wish it was from a smoker so they can say "I told you so"....😝

 Even though the Star Princess fire was from 2006, it can still happen to this day.  All it will take is one cigarette flicked over a balcony or the railing of a ship.  And even though the balcony furniture is fire-proof (I hope!) people do put towels/bathing suits out on their balconies to dry, which are flammable.  We have been on a ship where a fire started in the incinerator area of the ship, and it was very scary smelling/seeing the smoke, and waiting for updates on whether the fire was put out.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, pe4all said:

 Even though the Star Princess fire was from 2006, it can still happen to this day.  All it will take is one cigarette flicked over a balcony or the railing of a ship.  And even though the balcony furniture is fire-proof (I hope!) people do put towels/bathing suits out on their balconies to dry, which are flammable.  We have been on a ship where a fire started in the incinerator area of the ship, and it was very scary smelling/seeing the smoke, and waiting for updates on whether the fire was put out.

And, again whenever the Star Princess fire comes up, I will state that no definitive cause of the fire was ever determined.  The investigators stated that since they could not determine the cause of the fire, the "most likely" cause was a cigarette, even though in their laboratory conditions they were unable to ignite a Princess towel using a cigarette.

 

Incinerator fires are far more likely to cause a fire on a cruise ship than a cigarette.  They happen with some regularity, but don't always make it to passenger notice.

[Jenjer]

Chengkp Thank You for the educated information.

 

Really glad it looks like everything is ok.

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, NoName said:

I agree....these old boats don't represent what I think of when I think of Carnival.

Carnival is clearly committed to the Fantasy class.  There are some here who call it their favorite.  Why did you sail it if you did not want to go on a older ship?

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Okay, let's step back and look at a few things that previous posters have said:

 

First, since there is no indication that the fire was caused by any ship's system (even an electrical fire would have been caused by the passenger's appliances or extension cord and not ship's wiring) there is no reason to condemn an entire class of ship.

 

Next, fire doors.  The best fire doors on the ship are "A-60" class, meaning it will take 60 minutes before there is enough heat transferred through the door to start combustion on the other side.  Cabin doors are "B-15" doors, meaning they will only block combustion for 15 minutes.  You will notice that cabin doors to the passageway have a gap under them, and that immediately removes them from an "A" fire rating, let alone a 60 minute rating.

 

Why do the doors have a gap under them?  Because the air provided to the cabin by the AC system is more than the amount of air removed by the bathroom exhaust vent, creating a slight overpressure.  This overpressure is designed to keep smoke from migrating through the myriad of cracks and joints in the cabin joinery.  To balance this overpressure, excess air escapes under the door to the passageway which is at a lower pressure.

 

As for notifications, if a code alpha was all that was called, then only the emergency teams respond, not the full crew, and until it is determined that there is a need for a full muster and accountability of all passengers, that is that.  This decision will be made by the Captain upon recommendation of the On Scene Commander.

 

And for evacuation, not everyone on a deck that has a fire would be evacuated.  Only those in the active fire zone would be considered, until a general passenger muster is signaled.  The ship is divided into "vertical fire zones" (5-8 per ship) where an "A-60" fire boundary makes a straight vertical line from the keel to the top of the ship, and each of these fire zones have separate ventilation and power supplies, so that ventilation and power can be secured to the fire zone, without affecting the rest of the ship.  Those doors in the passageways that keep you from getting to your cabins on turnaround day are fire zone boundary doors (as are the ones you see recessed into the passageways along the hall).  And even inside the active fire zone, the crew has procedures and protocols for evacuating passengers from the area.  If it is found to be a small fire (like a trash can fire or a surge protector) that is easily extinguished, regardless of the presence of smoke, they likely won't evacuate more than a few surrounding cabins.  As noted, staying in your cabin will prevent smoke coming in.

Great post

[Jmp4965]

We were on this cruise staying on deck 6. There was an alpha call for all cre members to go to a specific cabin. It was an even numbered interior cabin on deck 6. About 20 minutes later the made an announcement that there was a fire on deck 6 but it was put out. There was smoke on the deck included the odd number cabin side. By the morning all the smoke was cleared. They did have the section which was affected blocked off. The incident was handled quickly and professionally.  

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

And, again whenever the Star Princess fire comes up, I will state that no definitive cause of the fire was ever determined.  The investigators stated that since they could not determine the cause of the fire, the "most likely" cause was a cigarette, even though in their laboratory conditions they were unable to ignite a Princess towel using a cigarette.

 

Incinerator fires are far more likely to cause a fire on a cruise ship than a cigarette.  They happen with some regularity, but don't always make it to passenger notice.

One could say from the investigative report as you quoted it that a cigarette could not be ruled out as the cause of the fire and in fact was the most likely cause.

[ontheweb]

24 minutes ago, Jmp4965 said:

We were on this cruise staying on deck 6. There was an alpha call for all cre members to go to a specific cabin. It was an even numbered interior cabin on deck 6. About 20 minutes later the made an announcement that there was a fire on deck 6 but it was put out. There was smoke on the deck included the odd number cabin side. By the morning all the smoke was cleared. They did have the section which was affected blocked off. The incident was handled quickly and professionally.  

It's good to know that the training that the crew received led to them acting professionally and taking care of the problem.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

One could say from the investigative report as you quoted it that a cigarette could not be ruled out as the cause of the fire and in fact was the most likely cause.

Nor does it rule out an ember from the ship's exhaust, someone accidentally catching something on fire, panicking and leaving (personally experienced on a ship), or a towel used to wipe off excess sunscreen, or spilled sunscreen, wadded up and left in the sun on the balcony spontaneously combusting (we are always aware that oily rags, in the heat of the engine room, let alone in the tropical sun, can spontaneously combust), since no evidence was found against any of these causes.  And what was the reason cited for a cigarette cause?  That a few days earlier, at a different location on the ship, that a butt had landed on a balcony.  If you read the investigation report, you'll note that the recommendations for remediation were to improve the fire safety of the balcony furnishings and structure, but not to recommend a ban on smoking on balconies.  I'm a non-smoker, but I've been around shipboard furnishings, and equipment, and shipboard firefighting for 43 years, and I've never experienced a fire started by a cigarette, and know how hard it actually is to get things to burn from one.

[BoDidly]

23 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Nor does it rule out an ember from the ship's exhaust, someone accidentally catching something on fire, panicking and leaving (personally experienced on a ship), or a towel used to wipe off excess sunscreen, or spilled sunscreen, wadded up and left in the sun on the balcony spontaneously combusting (we are always aware that oily rags, in the heat of the engine room, let alone in the tropical sun, can spontaneously combust), since no evidence was found against any of these causes.  And what was the reason cited for a cigarette cause?  That a few days earlier, at a different location on the ship, that a butt had landed on a balcony.  If you read the investigation report, you'll note that the recommendations for remediation were to improve the fire safety of the balcony furnishings and structure, but not to recommend a ban on smoking on balconies.  I'm a non-smoker, but I've been around shipboard furnishings, and equipment, and shipboard firefighting for 43 years, and I've never experienced a fire started by a cigarette, and know how hard it actually is to get things to burn from one.

I'm a non smoker too, never have been .  Never had anything to do with firefighting . But being a person that watched my childhood home burn down from a cigarette laid in a window seal may be the cause of that . No question about it ,it was a possibility and listed as such.

Spontaneous combustion , I read somewhere that humans even do that sometimes...….

Edited February 11, 2019 by BoDidly

[OCruisers]

Wonder if we'll ever know the actual cause of the fire .......

[Elaine5715]

9 minutes ago, OCruisers said:

Wonder if we'll ever know the actual cause of the fire .......

If the people in that cabin are seen on the next port with their luggage, we can make a guess...