Star Fire - Origin Cabin

[tapdancer_pm]

[quote name='iowated']My wife and I were in the internet cafe on deck 7 when the fire started. They called over the loudspeaker "assessment party to ---". I can't remember the cabin number but it was on deck 11, I think in the 300 section of rooms. This was shortly after 3 AM. I thought about going up to see what was going on but when we started toward the stairs we heard a loud blast on the intercom calling the crew to muster stations. I believe it may have been followed by an announcement or something about a fire. We went up the main stairs to deck 10 to awaken our son in room c536 on the port side and then to our room, c632. I opened the curtains and saw embers flying by with some landing on our balcony. I went out on the balcony and saw a roaring fire with flames visible outside the ship. It looked like it was on the 11th and 12th decks quite a way up the ship. We proceeded to muster station C but could not find our 15 year old son or his roommate. The crew was very helpful in locating them. It took awhile but they were sleeping on a couch in the wheelhouse bar. The crew kept everyone calm, and the captain had frequent updates on the progress of the firefighters. The lifeboats and rafts were lowered to the Promenade Deck and I am certain they would have gotten the passengers off safely had they needed to.[/QUOTE]


Just wondering, why was your 15 year old asleep in the BAR at 3:00 am and not in his cabin????

[zackiedawg]

[quote name='tapdancer_pm']Just wondering, why was your 15 year old asleep in the BAR at 3:00 am and not in his cabin????[/quote]

Not speaking for the poster...but I think you may be confusing the timeline a bit. They indicated that the fire began, and they went to their son's cabin to wake them up when the fire alarm sounded. Due to the evacuation, they had to go to their muster station, which may have been different from that of their sons.

The way I took this was the sons had evacuated their room when the general alarm was called, then while mustered in the Wheelhouse Bar (remember muster was 6-7 hours, and in the middle of the night), they went to sleep.

Later, when the parents asked the crew to help them find their kids, the crew probably guided them to the Wheelhouse to discover that they were safe and asleep in that muster station.

I could be wrong...people have been known to fall asleep in bars and deckchairs...but I didn't get that about their sons from this post.

[Iamthesea]

[quote name='w0kie']"John(and Julie Nightingale) of Old Hall Road, Brampton, said: "We were coming out of the ship's disco to wait for the sunrise on our balcony when we saw what we thought was a fire on a balcony below ours. "I shouted my brother-in-law to ask him if he thought it was a fire. Then it became a blazing inferno." John raced to set off the fire alarm then the four of them ran down the ship's corridors banging on cabin doors to wake up fellow holidaymakers and get them to assemble at the muster stations wearing life jackets."

[URL="http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=728&ArticleID=1410947"]http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=728&ArticleID=1410947[/URL][/quote]
I just read this article and it's the first time I have heard this account mentioned. I guess these passengers can pinpoint the balcony where the fire started and if they are telling the truth, they were the first to sound the fire alarm. :eek: Are there other threads about this article and "hero" on this board? I wonder why the guy HAD to kick down a door to get to his life jacket?:rolleyes:

[iowaoly]

Just to clear things up about our 15 year old who people think was sleeping in a bar before the fire. This is not true. Our son was in his room sleeping when we knocked to wake him up to tell him of the emergency and that we needed to go to our muster station. My husbnad and I were in the computer room close to 3am checking to see if we had received an email from an older son who we were concerned about his safe return from a high school band trip to Disney...my husband and I happened to both be awake at that time and decided to go check our e-mail. Looking back, this was a God thing to me...that we were awake and alert when the muster alarm started and gave us a clearer frame of mind to alert our 15 year old and then proceed to our room a few doors down to get our life jackets and emergency things. Our son on the cruise with us was to come to our room after he and his roommate had their things...but they never came and had ended up going down different stairs and went to the muster station....forgive me if I don't have the names right. We were all in C station which covered a huge area...He went to The Wheelhouse lounge and we were outside of Explorer's and Sabatini's waiting for him to walk by after we didn't find him in his room after he got our life jackets. My husband tried to look in other areas of the C station but did not see the boys and we were to stay in our areas.

Please know..this was the worst time of the whole incident for me...being separated from my son. We did not know for sure where he was...even though we knew he was a responsible and inteligent boy...you never know what a teenager may think and do (anyone for that matter)....and all thoughts went through my head...did he go check out to see where the fire was?, did he get injured?, was he safe? We just did not know for sure. We talked to Isabell who was our muster station leader early on in the emergency and she put out notice at the other areas to search for the boys and did a very good job at keeping me calm. During this time, the life boats were being prepared and we thought we may have a good chance of ending up in lifeboats...but we still were separated, which was the worst part.

I hope this is clear...because I don't want more confusion or criticism. Matt and Kyle ended up being safe in their muster station..the wheelhouse bar and in fact, did fall asleep on couches, once they were there. They had been talking with friends they had made and had gone to bed late and were tired...plus we had spent a hot, full day snorkeling with the sting rays and touring Grand Cayman the day before. He woke to his name and his roommate being called and a crew member took him by the arm and told him how worried his parents were and brought him to where we were...down the hall on 7 outside Sabatini's. I was so relieved at that point to be reunited and wasn't nearly as scared about the fire situation feeling the crew had things under control and in order and if we had to go to life boats our family was together.

On another note....many have jumped to conclusions about us and our son being irresponsible. After people were allowed to go back to their rooms late morning....and those of us who couldn't due to the damage went to the dining room, a woman in her robe, that I did not know,came over to the table where my son and husband and I were and thanked us so much for how our son had helped them during the emergency by getting life jackets for her and her two children.......for some reason she could not get them and had to get her insulin or something...but whatver the reason it brought tears to my eyes and made me very proud. She was so grateful to him. We also were told that our son and his roommate were consolong some elderly women in the wheelhouse lounge who were crying and telling them everything would be ok. So...I have mixed feelings as a mom. I am very proud of the way he acted, but also have a hard time understanding how the boys could not see why we were so worried. I have learned from this that we will have to have a very specific meeting place in case of an emergency and if we are separated to let someone in charge know.

I hope this answers some of the questions that our first post brought out. I apologize for it not being more clear. It is a confusing story and one that happened under a lot of stress. Thank God we are all ok and there weren't more people injured or killed. Thank you to those of us who have supported my husband and I on these posts by not assuming the worst of us and our son.

I want to use this opportunity to thank all the crew and staff of the Star. They were amazing during all of this...especially the ones working around our muster station outside of Sabatini's.

PS Despite the fire, my son said this was his best cruise yet. He had a great time.....and I agree...everything was wonderful up until that point.

[Princess Chatterer]

It appears that the first fire photo was taken by another passenger hero Creve Coeur, Missouri Deputy Fire Chief Terry Scholl.

[URL="http://ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=94317"]http://ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=94317[/URL]

[sea_breaze]

Iowa-I had to chuckle everytime someone brought up your son sleeping in the Wheelhouse Bar. I knew exactly what you were saying, as I think most of us did. Sounds like you have a terrific kid there.

[judynorth]

Iowa-I had to chuckle everytime someone brought up your son sleeping in the Wheelhouse Bar. I knew exactly what you were saying, as I think most of us did. Sounds like you have a terrific kid there.

 

I second that. :) You must be very proud of him. Thanks for telling us of your experiences.

[Iamthesea]

I also want to thank you for posting. Your post serves as a reminder that ships are not always safe, so the same planning you do at home for emergencies, must be made while on ships.

 

Just three weeks ago, we set sail with our three grown children (25, 21 & 18.) They were in a stateroom one deck down and several cabins away from us. I know had this accident happened to us, my children would have panicked. I wasn't even sure where their muster station was! :eek:

 

We will be more careful about making emergency plans the next time we cruise with others.

[caribbean dreams]

Last i heard they are still looking for the person that pulled the fire alarm in the hall, no one has come forward and they are reviewing tapes.

why won't this person come forward if all they did was see a fire and pull the alarm. could this mean something?

[Host CJSKIDS]

Last i heard they are still looking for the person that pulled the fire alarm in the hall, no one has come forward and they are reviewing tapes.

why won't this person come forward if all they did was see a fire and pull the alarm. could this mean something?

 

The person did come forward/

[caribbean dreams]

great thanks.

1 down and 100 more possibilities to go.

 

 

[sunshine426]

cjskids, glad to see you are still up and posting. Hope you are feeling better. I know the experience on the Star was scary for us, and we had no where near the experience you had. Sorry we didn't get to have that martini together. Hope to sail with you in the future. Karen

[Iamthesea]

The person did come forward/

Hi, cjskids - How are you and the rest of the family today?

 

Is the person you speak of the one mentioned in this article?

http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/Vie...icleID=1410947

 

BTW - Where are the fire alarms located? I don't recall ever seeing one on a ship. I am going to be much more aware of my surroundings on my next cruise, which we just booked! The same type ship - Caribbean Princess 9/30!!! :D

[sunshine426]

Iowaly, so impressed that you were able to respond the the rather insulting post re your boys presence in the wheel house bar. Of course my two daugthers were sleeping under a table in the internet cafe while we were around the corner wondering where they were, but no one has challleneged us so far. We also spoke with at least one of our off springs moments befoe evacuation, and still became separated due to different routes. Thank goodness all of our children had the presence of mind to find safety first, then worry abt their parents. Hope all is well with you. Sorry we did not get to meet during the cruise.

[iowaoly]

Sunshine 426, Thanks for the supportive comment. Wasn't being separated from your kids the most frightening thing? I felt so much better after we were reunited.

 

My husband and I have been feeling a little down about our vacation ending the way it did and being cut short..so we went out to a nice dinner tonight. We really need to start planning another trip to have to look forward to.