Hate to start another STAR thread, but I had a thought........

[SSeaman]

I just finished watching "Cruising the Star Princess" that was shown on the Travel Channel the other week. I have read the other threads, but haven't seen anyone pose this question. When they were touring the bridge, they showed how the bridge "Wing" as they referred it, stretched the entire width of the ship, with shots showing the sides of the ship all the way aft. They also stated there are four ships officers manning the bridge at all times. If true, I'm just surprised this fire wasn't detected sooner. Were these men performing their duties? I have read many posts praising the crew and their efforts, I'm glad to hear this. I know the crew hold weekly drills, its evident they pay off.

[bhopal21]

They also stated there are four ships officers manning the bridge at all times. If true, I'm just surprised this fire wasn't detected sooner. Were these men performing their duties?

 

Do you have information as to what time the fire started and what time it was "reported"? If so, please share, I am sure Princess would like to know.

 

Mike:confused:

[chasetf]

I just finished watching "Cruising the Star Princess" that was shown on the Travel Channel the other week. I have read the other threads, but haven't seen anyone pose this question. When they were touring the bridge, they showed how the bridge "Wing" as they referred it, stretched the entire width of the ship, with shots showing the sides of the ship all the way aft. They also stated there are four ships officers manning the bridge at all times. If true, I'm just surprised this fire wasn't detected sooner. Were these men performing their duties? I have read many posts praising the crew and their efforts, I'm glad to hear this. I know the crew hold weekly drills, its evident they pay off.

The main purpose of the "wings" are for entering and exiting port or when they are in tight situation like cruising Glacier Bay where they have lookouts of ice. If you have ever seen the controls on the "wings" you would see they generally only involve prop, rudder and thruster controls

 

I donot believe they have fire watches, nor even with 4 officers, that the "wings" are manned 24/7. I am sure they were performing their duties navigating and monitoring the ship which most likely involved the area near the navigation computers, the other displays showing the ships condition, etc.

[Princess Chatterer]

When a fire alarm is pulled or fire sensors automatically detect fire on the ship a silent signal is sent and the appropriate crew is immediately alerted and go into action. Remember that at 3 am the fire fighters are sound asleep when their alarm sounds, just like firemen at home. They scamble to dress and head to the fire.

 

I'm sure the bridge officers were totally in the alarm loop and of course can and surely did observe the fire on side of the ship from their extended bridge. The passengers are only alerted and sent to muster stations by the bridge when necessary.

[SSeaman]

No I have no answers as to when, how and who reported the fire. I do realize one of the purposes for these wings are for navigational purposes. I was just wondering if any one of the officers sits at each end for what ever reason. I'm surprised there aren't camera's mounted on each wing looking aft, well all we can do is speculate and lets leave that up to the professionals.

 

w0kie - yes I realize this, I've been a volunteer firefighter for over twenty years. I very much know what its like to be woken in the middle of a deep sleep and called to action.

 

Folks, I'm not trying to slam Princess, it sounds like they did an excellent job handling this situation. I am saddened for the loss of life, injured and passengers who were frightened. Fire is one scary monster.

[flynrph]

I was just wondering if any one of the officers sits at each end for what ever reason. I'm surprised there aren't camera's mounted on each wing looking aft, well all we can do is speculate and lets leave that up to the professionals.

 

On a ship that size, I really doubt the night watch has the luxury of sitting on wings looking down the side of the ship constantly. A fire on a balcony is a rare event, even less so at 3AM.

[gopher's girl]

I think SSeaman makes an excellent point though. I've never been on the bridge, but it is mostly glass. Even if the night watch was not on the wings, they probably would have seen a reflection.

 

If they reported a problem, it would still take a minute or two to get anyone close to the fire and report back.

 

They were also the ones that had to take the control of the ship - stopping or turning it based on what was going on with the fire.

[flynrph]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=320109

 

Yikes!:(

[SSeaman]

On a ship that size, I really doubt the night watch has the luxury of sitting on wings looking down the side of the ship constantly. A fire on a balcony is a rare event, even less so at 3AM.

 

Well maybe this event will change that!

 

I'm not just talking about just fire watch either. I'm sure some crazy things can take place on a balcony this time of night. Intoxicated person falling off, jumping off, or hey, even pushed off their balcony. I once witnessed a younger group of kids throw balcony furniture off (different cruise line).

 

 

Flynrph, thanks for the link to the thread, an accelerant has been my suspicion all along, but I'm trying to keep these kinds of thoughts to myself.

[cruzegirl]

It looks like it happened just before 8pm (bridgecam) on the 23rd... This is a link to cruise addicts where it was followed on the bridge cam... This is just a link, I won't show photos directly in the post so as not to make those memories startling for those who went through it.... This way if anyone clicks on the link, they chose to view these photos.... It's just smoke in the dark and hard to view/see but still..... it's terrifying........

http://www.cruise-addicts.com/forums/read.php?1,1105970

[chasetf]

It looks like it happened just before 8pm (bridgecam) on the 23rd...

That was just after 8pm GMT

[alibail]

That was just after 8pm GMT

 

Correction, 8am GMT. The clock is 24hr format.

[chasetf]

Correction, 8am GMT. The clock is 24hr format.

 

My point was the time you reference that "it looks like it happened at 8pm from the bridgecam" was the bridgecam picture is annotated with GMT not local time. Local time in the Caribbean when the fire occurred was 3am Local.

 

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is mean solar time at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Greenwich, London, England, the United Kingdom, which by convention is at 0 degrees geographic longitude.

[alibail]

My point was the time you reference that "it looks like it happened at 8pm from the bridgecam" was the bridgecam picture is annotated with GMT not local time. Local time in the Caribbean when the fire occurred was 3am Local.

 

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is mean solar time at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Greenwich, London, England, the United Kingdom, which by convention is at 0 degrees geographic longitude.

 

I understand that (I do live in the UK).

 

I was simply correcting the statement that it was "just after 8pm". 2am EST = 8am GMT (or 9am BST).

[dad son team]

From the series of webcam picture that I have seen, the smoke on the upper deck increased rapidly, within minutes, so it seems like the fire spread pretty quickly. Does anyone know about how long the fire burned? I know the pax where at there muster stations for several hours, but was the fire burning that whole time?

[JLC@SD]

Correction, 8am GMT. The clock is 24hr format.

If clock is 24 hr format......... why am and pm.......:confused:

[chasetf]

From the series of webcam picture that I have seen, the smoke on the upper deck increased rapidly, within minutes, so it seems like the fire spread pretty quickly. Does anyone know about how long the fire burned? I know the pax where at there muster stations for several hours, but was the fire burning that whole time?

Have not heard how long the fire burned but my speculation is:

• It did not burn the entire time the passengers were at muster stations. But, having witnessed my neighbor's house burn at 3am in the morning, it took a couple of hours to completely douse the flames... and the was with three fire trucks. They most likely kept them there until they completed a thorough search of the ship for any potential victims and to make sure the fire was completely out.

• The fire did spread quickly, but notice the smoke "fades" in subsequent pictures. The reason the smoke seems to "disappear" in the bridge cam pictures is the captain turned the ship to put the flames on the leeward side to minimize the affect of the wind fanning the flames.