Author Topic: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM  (Read 46966 times)

Offline Darrin

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #30 on: October 06, 2008, 09:34:13 PM »
JT,
I WILL hold you to the finest traditions of being a TM and knowing more then most about Damage Control then most because we dealt with floodings, fire and what in the hell do we do with a weapon that has burst open(i.e. dropped or had something penetrate the casing) during movent and the weapon put EXPLOSIVES on the deck..

One of my favorite drills on a 688 was moving a weapon from the port side to the starboard side and the hydraulics line ruptured at the drain cock.. and then spewed hydraulics into the launch console and from there a FIRE on the starboard side of the room with weapons involved.

Immediate action taken was to secure ALL of the hydraulics in the room and then start to cool the weapons IF any on the starboard side of the room with one hose (starboard aft) and then use the Port side FWD hose to put out the fire. Reason behind that drill was to get us to think outside of the box and to make us think about how to successfuly fight a fire in the fwd AND aft part of the room on one side. (that used to be a TRE ooohly in Pac fleet in the early 90's)

Side note about the Mk 48 and it's little brother the Mk 48 ADCAP (or should I say the little brother on steroids?)  when it got too hot the vent valve would release and it would blow otto fuel out to release the pressure so that it would not explode (and it needs NO air to combust)... One of the biggest things giving an OTTO fuel spill was the HEADACHE that went with it and the need for fresh air and no matter how much coffee was give or asprin it wouldn't go away until ALL of the otto fuel was cleaned up...

Witnessed a Mk 48 vent OTTO fuel once topside on a 688 and the fire dept was called and they wouldn't touch the thing because they were AFRAID of it... a number of us TM's laughed at them and brought the hoses we were using to load potable at the time from the pier and cooled the damned thing down until it quit venting ;) and then went about our business. :2funny:

Offline JTheotonio

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #31 on: October 06, 2008, 09:39:30 PM »
Accepted sir!
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Offline Darrin

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #32 on: October 06, 2008, 09:45:58 PM »
SIR?? What flip over?? is my dad or an Officer behing me ;)

I will be watching along with the rest of this crew and hopefully learning something from another TM who is well versed in the art of Damage Control

Good luck JT, if'n ya need anything email me and I will gladly help ya out ;)

Offline JTheotonio

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #33 on: October 06, 2008, 09:53:07 PM »
ok - hum! I must of had an extra martini tonight to refer to you as SIR - me being another TM must of had too much Pink Lady! Ha!
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Offline Darrin

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #34 on: October 06, 2008, 10:15:31 PM »
A TM drinking too much pink lady :2funny: :2funny: 

Offline Shipwreck

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #35 on: October 07, 2008, 01:20:24 AM »
Thanks guys!

Hey - you know what might be a good idea - what if we all created a Basic Fire Control Plan based on our experiences with our boats?  This way, perhaps all of the subs could benefit in some way and at the very least have a skeleton plan to work with for heir particular needs.

We could also determine what things like type of extinguisher is best for use on our museum boats, etc.

Just an idea.  Whadya think?

Then we could generate some training scenarios - like the one with the fog machine - that we could implement on the boats.  Since the training would be somewhat uniform it could possibly identify faults, etc and again help all the museum subs.
Sincerely,

Bradley Wynn
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Offline Rick

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #36 on: October 07, 2008, 09:57:46 AM »
Lots of conversation on this one.   For the Batfish both the Navy inspecotrs and the Fire Marshal have some say in this.  Fortunately the Fire Marshal is working with us on this issue.   Every year he makes recomendations and we are required to fulful them.  All of he fire extinguisheres are in place per the Fire Marshals request.   We do have a fire plane in place.  The Navy is responsible for makeing sugestions to help keep the boat safe and looking good.    I can talk more about specifics off line.

Rick

Offline emeacho

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #37 on: October 07, 2008, 12:50:53 PM »
We have had the fire department aboard to look things over and check fire extinguishers.  The official repsonse from them is that it's the Coast Guards responsibility to determine safety of boats and ships.  The Coast Guard says it's the Fire Department's job.  So, we fall through the cracks.

Darrin brought up a very good point and that is that you should have some sort of emergency lighting aboard.  We use battle lanterns and some civilian style emergency lights.  We have also rigged the ships emergency lights to operate off a battery using a normally-closed relay. This system is temporarily OOC because we changed the battery recently.

Offline Mark Sarsfield

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #38 on: October 07, 2008, 02:31:16 PM »
I would like see the battle lanterns get serviced and be operational again in each compartment.  We have plenty of them and most of them just need batteries.  It's a pain to switch out batteries every 6 months or so, but it could save lives.  The only concern would be visitors playing with the lanterns and leaving them on.

Regards,
Mark Sarsfield
USS Batfish reenactor



"If you have one bucket that can hold 5 gallons and one bucket that can hold 2 gallons, how many buckets do you have?" - IQ test from Idiocracy

Offline Darrin

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #39 on: October 07, 2008, 06:12:26 PM »
Chief Mike and crew went through all of ours and replaced all of the batteries (6volt brick lantern batteries sold at walmart) and then tied them into the electrical system for emergency power running off of our batteries that we have in the LLAB. We also have building emergency lights scattered through the boat hidden out of the sight of the tourists that are another great back up because you can NEVER have too much light when you lose power... Can you Chief Mike??   

An unnamed volunteer and I learned that one the hard way during a strip ship here in James River Reserve fleet when we were on the Ex- USS SUNBIRD at the end of a very long day when I remembered that there was a gyro repeator that looked like new and we needed one at the time, SO this vol and I went below decks into the AFT Steering part of the ship and when we got the damned compass off our flashlights went dead... With that being said and NEITHER one of us were familiar with the layout of that boat with no power at all and with it being dark as all get out we had to feel our way out of the lower part of the ship using a lighter and hoping that we didn't set anything on fire in the process.

We survived that day to laugh and tell it as an old sea story about things NOT to do during a strip ship without extra lights or batteries in your pockets, that holds true to a museum submarine with no power and tourists and voluteers alike.. Once the power goes off it is a completely different world down there and you need to light it up for all to see so they can get out

Offline Shipwreck

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #40 on: October 07, 2008, 09:17:46 PM »
Wow - there is another drill of sorts we could do - experience the boat in a complete blackout.  Man we are gonna have fun on our next weekend in the boat next year - eh skipper?

LOL

 ::)
Sincerely,

Bradley Wynn
PO Box 711
Oklahoma City, OK 73101-0711
OFC/FAX:  (405) 601-1950
CELL:  (405) 833-1727
bradley@scriptfolio.net
www.ussbatfish.com

Mission Statement:   “The USS Batfish War Memorial remembers those who have served, preserves the legacy they leave behind, and educates those who come after, of lives touched by war in the fight and hope for peace.”

Member Batfish Living History Association: www.ss310.com

Offline MWALLEN

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #41 on: October 07, 2008, 09:53:48 PM »
We did that (ie blackout) one work day, by accident...blew the transformer...with people in the aft battery.  This was years ago before any emergency lighting and before Vaughn "re-wired" the boat.  Fortunately I was on the outside...and the one's inside didn't have flashlights.  The funny thing is we didn't know we had blown the transformer and didn't realize they were in the aft battery in the dark.

It's funny now.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" - Edmund Burke

Offline Rick

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #42 on: October 08, 2008, 02:53:57 PM »
this is not a plesant esperience.   I walked through one day with the lights out just to see how easy it was.   I had a flashlight with me and the emergency lights turned on.   it is not going to happen very easliy.   Currently the procedure is for the counter person to go down with a flash light to escourt anyone on board off the moment a power failure is detected.  Ideally each compatment needs some type of light source.   There are several battle lanterns in house for use.   We still need a write up on the power system down there.   Right now any work being done is a shot in the dark...

Rick

Offline emeacho

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #43 on: October 09, 2008, 12:35:03 PM »
Guys, every compartment should have at least two emergency lights in them.  That should provide sufficient light for finding your way out on a loss of power.  The boats in the WWII config can wire commercially available emergency lights in inconspicuous places.  I don't think those old WWII battle lanterns could be relay actuated.  The boats in the post-snorkel configurations can use the yellow battle lanterns. Those had relay actuators and push-to-test buttons.  Tourists can't leave them on.  We hard-wired them into receptacles or power panels so they would come on automatically when the power went off.  We periodically check them, but they do not need new batteries every six months.  The batteries hold up pretty well unless someone messes with them (we've had visitors attempt to steal them and in the process pull the wires from the panels).  I'm surprised your fire marshalls have not required you to put in emergency lights.

Offline Rick

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Re: FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM
« Reply #44 on: October 09, 2008, 01:03:37 PM »
SHHHHHH.....

We do have 3.   I would like to see more and less conspicous.  and ones that i do not have to turn on every day.

Rick