More relevant than ever, with frequent container fires and the ongoing conflict in the Middle east:
The major bar for fire fighting training for crews is the reluctance of the crews themselves to be trained.
Meaningful fire fighting training is punishing on the body. It means training on bottled air, going up and down multiple flights of stairs, operating in zero visibility environments, etc.
Young crew members will generally do fine. Once a crew member passes 40 the physicality rapidly diminishes. Since a lot of crews average over 40 in age, meaningful FF training means accepting increased chances of injury.
Crew members understand this, and are therefore reluctant to undergo truly realistic training. They signed up to be mariners, not firefighters.
Here’s the biggest consideration for additional FF training: When the individual gets hurt during training and misses a voyage, who pays for the medical care and the lost time from work?
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Who paid for and received a tax deduction for the training?
The required training reflects a lowest common denominator and 1980s approaches, and is poorly fitted to modern real world problems.
The training doesn’t need to be a brutal as it sometimes is.
More training and emphasis on things like best use of thermal imaging cameras, high pressure fog, low flow penetrating applicators, automated monitors, and etc.. and actually having such equipment on board, would make everyone much safer