Natchez hearth resulted in $1.5 million in damages to the vessel [Photo:USCG]
Combustible supplies left unprotected close to sizzling work led to a hearth on the enduring New Orleans steamboat Natchez passenger vessel, the National Transportation Safety Board says in its newest report coping with a vessel hearth. Those fires are inevitably expensive, and the Natchez hearth resulted in $1.5 million in damages to the vessel.
Although the Natchez is a replica of vessels of a bygone era, it was inbuilt 1975 and on the time when the hearth broke out on May 3, 2022, was moored and out of service, present process a significant make over.
“At the time of the casualty,” says the NTSB report, “the Natchez had been undergoing an extensive overhaul of its boilers, generators, and passenger spaces for about 16 months, since January 2021. This work required the employment and coordination of several contractors to accomplish the various tasks. The Natchez owner/operator, who had crew working on the vessel during the day and a security watch in the evening, did not maintain a safety plan for the work being conducted on the vessel but instead relied on the contractors to have and follow their own safety plans. However, the company that was conducting the hot work in the generator space did not have a fire safety plan for the work on board the Natchez.”
On the day of the hearth, contractors had been eradicating the vessel’s foremost electrical panel to put in a substitute. After work was accomplished for the day, the Natchez deckhand serving because the safety watchstander noticed smoke and flames within the engine room. The New Orleans Fire Department extinguished the hearth. Most hearth injury was contained throughout the generator house that housed the panel, with minor warmth injury to the engine room and minor smoke injury to the exterior passenger decks positioned immediately above the hearth.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives decided the hearth on the steamboat Natchez originated close to the deck alongside the ahead bulkhead, adjoining to the place the recent work was carried out. NTSB investigators noticed pictures taken previous to the hearth that confirmed cardboard bins, picket cabinets and different flamable had been within the storage areas close to the place the recent work was carried out.
NTSB investigators discovered neither the vessel proprietor, the New Orleans Steamboat Company, nor the recent work contractor had a written security coverage or procedures in place for workers to evaluate and comply with when making ready for and conducting sizzling work on the vessel. Fire security plans are required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration laws.
The NTSB decided the possible trigger of fireside aboard the steamboat Natchez was the failure of contractor and vessel personnel to establish after which both take away or adequately defend flamable supplies close to sizzling work.
“The NTSB has investigated multiple fires following the completion of hot work within a space that were determined to be caused by a smoldering fire,” the report says. “A smoldering fire is formed when combustible material ignites, but the combustion proceeds slowly and steadily on the material’s surface with little heat and no smoke or flame. A smoldering fire is not easily detected, and depending upon its surroundings, it can last for hours after the initial ignition and can quickly grow into a flaming fire with no warning. It is critical to evaluate work areas for fire hazards and ensure that combustibles are relocated or protected with flameproofed covers/curtains or otherwise shielded with sheet metal. In addition, crewmembers involved in hot work should be trained to identify hazards such as combustibles and to take action to remove or protect them from hot work.”
- Download the total NTSB report HERE
