Heard that the Campbell Foss suffered a pretty big fire today in Long Beach. What’s the word?
Foss statement
At approximately 3:40 pm on Monday afternoon the Hybrid Tug Campbell Foss, having just completed a ship assist job, experienced a fire in her machinery spaces. The crew engaged the fixed firefighting suppression system and the fire was extinguished. Crews from the Long Beach Fire Department responded to the vessel along with crews from the Campbell Foss and Foss Maritime Tug Alta June. The tug was brought to the Foss facility in Long Beach. One crew member was treated for smoke inhalation, but is expected to make a full recovery.
Foss Maritime Company is working with investigators from the Fire Department and United States Coast Guard to determine the cause of the fire and to ascertain the extent of the damage. At this time we know only that the fire started in battery storage compartment and spread to the engine room before it was extinguished. The vessel will remain out of service until our investigation is complete, the cause of the fire known, the vessel repaired and corrective actions taken to prevent a reoccurrence.
I never worked on tugs, but shouldn’t lockers like paint and battery be secured when not in use? Do these vulnerable lockers have some type of fire extinguisher system to prevent such a fire to spread?.
I believe this ‘hybrid tug’ has immense batteries. It will be interesting to find out just what exploded.
P.S. Thank the Uninspected Towing Industry for such omissions!
Thanks AWO.
[QUOTE=Sweat-n-Grease;79598] Do these vulnerable lockers have some type of fire extinguisher system to prevent such a fire to spread?.[/QUOTE]
If the story is ever told it should be interesting. That boat uses lithium batteries and a small failure in one cell can quickly become a very big fire in a hurry. There really isn’t a great deal of fire protection knowledge with regard to large banks of lithium cells yet but I bet this incident will get the CG asking a lot of questions and spending some money on figuring out how to deal with this sort of casualty.
It’s interesting considering how much hype there’s been surrounding these two tugs (Campbell Foss and sister Carolyn Dorothy). The technology (Green Assist) is patented, it’s award winning and Foss has been bragging about it since 2009. Will be interesting to see what comes from this.
The Foss Rainier Shipyard built the world’s first hybrid tug, the Carolyn Dorothy, operating today in the San Pedro Bay. The 23.8 m (78 ft) Dolphin-class hybrid tug was designed to retain the power and maneuverability of her sister tugs, while dramatically reducing emissions, noise, fuel consumption, and machinery maintenance costs.
The same hybrid technology used to develop the Carolyn Dorothy can be used to convert existing harbor tugs – and other types of workboats – to hybrid vessels with lower emissions, improved fuel economy and lower maintenance costs. The Foss Engineering team can convert your standard tug to a hybrid tug, accommodating many tug designs and propulsion systems.
Foss completed the conversion of the Campbell Foss tug in January 2012 at the Foss shipyard in Rainier. Later that month the Campbell Foss entered service along side its sister hybrid tug. The Alta June, a conventional Dolphin class tug in service with the hybrids in southern California, is scheduled to be converted in the next few years.
WHY GO HYBRID?
The hybrid technology is environmentally responsible—without sacrificing horsepower or maneuverability. The technology can be used to convert existing tugs of all types to hybrid vessels with lower emissions, improved fuel economy and lower maintenance costs.
Lithium battery banks can fail catastrophically, but based on the study of numerous fires & explosions the likelyhood of a thermal event depends greatly on the care used during the installation, and exact type of lithium battery.
The Foss team is very proud of their hybrid boats. In addition to any regulatory investigations, it certainly will be looked into. I wish them success, because their harbor tugs are a good application for the system.
This just sent from Foss
The Campbell Foss event is unrelated to the Carolyn Dorothy which is in the yard for a scheduled maintenance period and a planned upgrade to her Hybrid Operating System. She is due back in service by November. We do not anticipate any delay to her schedule and will incorporate any applicable lessons learned from the Campbell incident into the operation of the Carolyn Dorothy.
Regarding the Campbell Foss, Foss Maritime is in the second day of the investigation process and is working closely with the USCG investigators. We are making good progress at understanding the nature of the incident and working diligently towards identifying the root cause and the necessary corrective actions to prevent a reoccurrence.
[QUOTE=Mikey;79608]This just sent from Foss[/QUOTE]
of course - of course - of course
The March / April 2012 issue of the [I]NFPA Journal[/I] has a good article on Lithium battery hazards.
[QUOTE=+A465B;79755]The March / April 2012 issue of the [I]NFPA Journal[/I] has a good article on Lithium battery hazards.[/QUOTE]
Yeah it’s the cover story here but locked up. http://www.nfpa.org/archivedjournalhome.asp?categoryID=2460