SPIRIT OF NORFOLK

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NTSB: Modern safety systems could have halted fire

The National Transportation Safety Board has completed its investigation into the fire aboard the 'Spirit of Norfolk' on Oct 7, 2022, and concluded that flammable material stowed near an exhaust pipe likely started the blaze. The outcome was driven by other factors, including the lack of a fixed firefighting system and ventilation dampers, which were not required by regulation for the small vessel. The 'Spirit of Norfolk' had departed her pier with a newly-hired captain at the helm and 91 passengers and 17 crew members aboard for a two-hour cruise in the morning of Oct 7. At noon, as the captain began to make a turn to begin the return leg of the trip, the port throttle lost its connection to the port engine and stopped responding. He asked a crew member to check the engine room, but soon noticed smoke coming from the port side engine room ventilation opening. He called the Coast Guard at 12.04 p.m. The crew could not enter the engine room because of thick smoke, so they closed the watertight door, shut off fuel supply valves, and shut down the engine room ventilation fan. The engine room vents were not fitted with fire dampers, so there was no way to shut off natural airflow, and air continued to enter the compartment throughout the response. Multiple good samaritan vessels responded to the emergency, including 13 tugs and the passenger m/v 'Victory Rover'. The tug 'Condor' held the 'Victory Rover' in place against the 'Spirit of Norfolk's port side, and all passengers safely transferred over to the smaller passenger vessel. The captain was last off the ferry after making a final sweep. The still-burning 'Spirit of Norfolk' was towed to a nearby berth at Naval Station Norfolk for pierside firefighting efforts, and it arrived after 1300. Shoreside firefighting teams and tugs sprayed water into the engine room through the ventilation openings in hopes of combating the fire. At about 2.30 p.m., a four-man attack team made up of City of Norfolk and U.S. Navy firefighters went aboard the vessel to spray foam into the engine room. They failed to find the escape scuttle, which they had been instructed to use for access. In an apparent communication breakdown, the attack team opened the main watertight hatch to the engine compartment instead. The hatch door burst open from the force of the accumulated firefighting water behind it, trapping one man behind the hatch and causing the vessel to list to port as the weight of thousands of gallons of water shifted. A tug held the listing ship against the pier to keep it from capsizing while the firefighting team was evacuated. They got off the vessel, but could not close the engine room hatch behind them before they left, and this allowed the fire to spread to the rest of the vessel. At around 8 p.m. the US Coast Guard established a broader unified command and recommended that no more firefighting water be added to the vessel's interior. Boundary cooling and dewatering continued, but the fire continued to burn until the morning of June 11, four days after it started. The vessel was written off as a total loss at a cost of $5 million. Based on an analysis of pre-accident survey information and burn patterns in the engine room, NTSB concluded that the fire likely started in a collection of combustible materials which had been stored next to the port side generator exhaust pipe. Contributing factors to the fire's spread included a lack of fire detection and fixed firefighting systems in the engine room; these were not required aboard the 'Spirit of Norfolk' because of her age and steel hull, which qualified her for a grandfather clause for Subchapter K passenger vessels. The NTSB called on the Coast Guard to remove this grandfather clause and require these older vessels to install fire detection and fire suppression systems in the engine room - or at minimum, to require fire-detection alone. NTSB noted that it first asked the USCG to require these upgrades for small passenger vessels in 2007, but the Coast Guard declined twice because the proposal did not pass a cost-benefit analysis test. Had the 'Spirit of' Norfolk been equipped with a fire extinguishing system to protect its engine room, the fire likely would have been quickly extinguished and the casualty mitigated," NTSB reasoned. The exemption presents an increased risk of harm from an engine room fire to passengers and crew members. Full report: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/MIR2322.pdf

Hearing into fire has commenced

A team of investigators on Jan 26 convened the first in a week-long series of hearings about the fire aboard the 'Spirit of Norfolk', questioning some of the people directly involved with the ship’s inspection and technical repairs. The hearing, led by Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board officials, revealed new details about issues the ship had in the weeks before the fire, and efforts to address them. While the 'Spirit of Norfolk' passed an inspection on May 10 with no deficiencies of any kind noted, the ship lost propulsion due to a malfunction May 15, about three weeks prior to the fire. The vessel was issued a violation requiring it to resolve the problem prior to carrying passengers, according to Lt. Tom Whalen, one of the Coast Guard investigators who led much of the questioning Thursday. The issue was repaired and the ship was back to regular operations by May 18, when its port engine became inoperable. Technicians with Bay Diesel, the company headquartered in Chesapeake hired to conduct repairs, recommended the cylinders and pistons in the ship’s engine be replaced. Additionally, Bay Diesel mechanic Stephen Hanna inspected the ship’s turbochargers with Charlie Wyatt when they found one had a buildup of “gunk,” which made them worry the sealant was ready to give way. The other turbocharger, which is used to increase the engine’s efficiency, did not have the same issue — but Hanna recommended both be replaced. Purchase orders show two turbochargers were ordered. The vessel had 108 passengers for a lunchtime cruise on June 7 on the Elizabeth River when a fire started in engine room. Of those, 89 were children — some were holding a party to celebrate the end of the school year. No one was injured, but the boat burned for nearly five days before the fire could be fully extinguished; it was deemed a total loss. No determination has been made about the cause of the fire, and it’s unclear when the findings will be finalized. Brian Vaughn with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will testify on Jan 31 about the ATF’s forensic analysis into the fire’s cause and origin.

Hearing into fire scheduled

The Coast Guard was scheduled to conduct a formal hearing starting on Jan 26, 2023, in Virginia Beach to consider evidence related to the fire on the 'Spirit of Norfolk' on June 7, 2022, at the Virginia Beach City Council Chambers in Virginia Beach, VA. The hearing will be open to the public and be streamed live each day at: https://livestream.com/uscginvestigations/spiritofnorfolk. The formal hearing is scheduled to convene daily at 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on the following dates: Thursday, Jan. 26 Friday, Jan. 27 Saturday, Jan. 28 Monday, Jan. 30 Tuesday, Jan. 31 Thursday, Feb. 2 Friday, Feb. 3 (if necessary) The hearing will examine all aspects of the fire including, but not limited to, pre-accident historical events, regulatory compliance, crewmember duties and qualifications, mechanical systems, emergency response, and Coast Guard oversight of the vessel. Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath, commander of the Fifth Coast Guard District, ordered a formal investigation to determine causal factors that led to the incident, examine the response, and identify any other information that can improve maritime safety in the future. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was conducting a concurrent investigation into the incident and joins the Coast Guard in this fact-finding phase. The NTSB will analyze the facts to prepare and publish a separate report. The Coast Guard has established an email address for the public and interested parties to provide information, ask questions, and make comments related to the ongoing investigation and scheduled hearing. This email will be checked regularly, and all correspondence will be acknowledged during the hearing and throughout the investigation. The email address is: spiritofnorfolkuscg@gmail.com.