At twenty four minutes past seven this evening (2/2/10), Falmouth Coastguard received a call from the crew of the ferry Oscar Wilde who reported that they had a fire in the engine room.
The ferry is operated by Irish Ferries and had been in Falmouth Docks for a refit.
It was reported that there were 113 persons on board the vessel at the time of the incident MCA was informed of a fire in the engine room while at anchor in Falmouth Bay. Two MIRG Teams of six (plus kit bags) were mobilised and airlifted to the vessel by Royal Navy Helicopter R193. Vessel suffered main fire pump failure and intermittent failure of emergency fire pumps. MIRG Teams undertook boundary cooling and monitored the temperature of the engine room. Fire was reported to be out at 2300 hrs and the teams airlifted back to Falmouth.
Falmouth Coastguard despatched the Coastguard tug Anglian Princess to the Oscar Wilde and requested the launch of the Falmouth and Lizard RNLI lifeboats to standby the vessel. Three tugs had also left Falmouth Docks to assist.
The MIRG fire fighting team was airlifted to the vessel by helicopter to assist the crew in the handling of this fire incident on board the vessel. The fire was in the engine room and has been suppressed by the fire systems onboard.
The vessel remained at anchor and was due to be towed back to Falmouth.
The ferry is operated by Irish Ferries and had been in Falmouth Docks for a refit.
It was reported that there were 113 persons on board the vessel at the time of the incident MCA was informed of a fire in the engine room while at anchor in Falmouth Bay. Two MIRG Teams of six (plus kit bags) were mobilised and airlifted to the vessel by Royal Navy Helicopter R193. Vessel suffered main fire pump failure and intermittent failure of emergency fire pumps. MIRG Teams undertook boundary cooling and monitored the temperature of the engine room. Fire was reported to be out at 2300 hrs and the teams airlifted back to Falmouth.
Falmouth Coastguard despatched the Coastguard tug Anglian Princess to the Oscar Wilde and requested the launch of the Falmouth and Lizard RNLI lifeboats to standby the vessel. Three tugs had also left Falmouth Docks to assist.
The MIRG fire fighting team was airlifted to the vessel by helicopter to assist the crew in the handling of this fire incident on board the vessel. The fire was in the engine room and has been suppressed by the fire systems onboard.
The vessel remained at anchor and was due to be towed back to Falmouth.
Comment