Boat Fire Regents Canal

[saltysplash]

At about 5.30 am this morning Police and Fire Brigade were called to a Narrowboat on fire on the Regents Canal near Wenlock Basin just below City Road Lock.

 

Initial reports suggested there was a male trapped inside however witnesses then reported a man in the water who was badly burned.

 

The chap was rescued from the water with serious burns to his back and hands.

 

Brigade Investigators have deemed the fire non suspicious.

 

I dont have details about the boat or the cause of the fire but thoughts are with this chap at the moment as his injuries are at best described as Life Changing.

 

eta remind folks to Fit a smoke alarm and Get Out and Stay Out

Edited May 20, 2013 by saltysplash

[deckhand]

How sad, I dont have any words that sound right except that I hope he recovers quickly. My thoughts are with him.

 

Kim

[Puckle]

That is sad news. hope he recovers

[Magpie]

Poor guy lets all wish him well

[tree]

Very sad news and I also hope that he soon recovers from his injuries, and that the boating community will help him out as much as he wants and needs. Just like they offered me help and support.

it is a timely reminder to us all and I know that I tend to go over the top regarding Smoke alarms and fire safety as fire is the one thing that really scares me.

[Rob@BSSOffice]

It is unusual to have a fire where someone suffers burn injuries requiring hospital treatment.

 

Can all forumites spread the word - make a fire action plan. Everyone aboard should know it. test the smoke alarms weekly when occupying the boat.

 

Some fire and rescue services offer boat fire safety checks, especially to liveaboards, and they usually give the owner a smoke alarm. Check with your local fire station. Do a web-search for contact details.

[magnetman]

and don't leave padlocks on the outside of doors when you are in. I see this a lot and all it does is completely blocks an exit route which you may need to use when you least expect it.

[pquinn]

and don't leave padlocks on the outside of doors when you are in. I see this a lot and all it does is completely blocks an exit route which you may need to use when you least expect it.

bang on.

[Grace and Favour]

It is unusual to have a fire where someone suffers burn injuries requiring hospital treatment.

 

Can all forumites spread the word - make a fire action plan. Everyone aboard should know it. test the smoke alarms weekly when occupying the boat.

 

Some fire and rescue services offer boat fire safety checks, especially to liveaboards, and they usually give the owner a smoke alarm. Check with your local fire station. Do a web-search for contact details.

Rob - - I like your new avatar, Squire! ✔

[comfortably numb]

Very sad for this poor fellow, but at least he got out alive. The way a fire can spread so quickly in a boat it sounds like he was very lucky.

 

I've got one alarm fitted and the other has been tucked away in a drawer while I've been dithering as to where to mount it so this is a timely reminder for me to get cracking with it.

[ditchcrawler]

and don't leave padlocks on the outside of doors when you are in. I see this a lot and all it does is completely blocks an exit route which you may need to use when you least expect it.

Or fill the front deck with crap right against the doors

[MaryP]

Saw this boat last week - dreadful mess!

[Doorman]

It is unusual to have a fire where someone suffers burn injuries requiring hospital treatment.

 

Can all forumites spread the word - make a fire action plan. Everyone aboard should know it. test the smoke alarms weekly when occupying the boat.

 

Some fire and rescue services offer boat fire safety checks, especially to liveaboards, and they usually give the owner a smoke alarm. Check with your local fire station. Do a web-search for contact details.

Well said.

 

It is all too easy to become complacent about fire safety on board. We recently lit our stove before going off to enjoy a local music festival. Knowing that we would be out all day I loaded the fire box with coal to make sure there would be enough to last until we returned. Setting the spinners at their 'lowest' position off we went. During the day the wind speed increased thus drawing the fumes from the chimney and wafting the flames from within the stove.

 

When we returned later the boat was like a sauna and the surrounding wooden furniture worryingly hot. I often leave the fire ticking over whilst out from the boat but on this occasion the mistake was to load the coal too high. With regard to the smoke and fire alarms, Mrs Doorman often complains at the sensitivity of our 'Fire Angel' alarms and the need to reset them once activated, but I simply remind her that it is comforting to know that they are there and they work!

 

Incidentally, one of our boating friends suffered serious burns to his neck and back requiring extensive hospital treatment. Thankfully, not from fire but in tripping over his dog after a beer tasting event and reaching out to cushion his fall, but grabbing a boiling hot pan of water on his hob by mistake. Although we like a pint or three, alcohol and boats are a sorry mix if uncontrolled.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Doorman

[Troyboy]

Well said.

 

It is all too easy to become complacent about fire safety on board. We recently lit our stove before going off to enjoy a local music festival. Knowing that we would be out all day I loaded the fire box with coal to make sure there would be enough to last until we returned. Setting the spinners at their 'lowest' position off we went. During the day the wind speed increased thus drawing the fumes from the chimney and wafting the flames from within the stove.

 

When we returned later the boat was like a sauna and the surrounding wooden furniture worryingly hot. I often leave the fire ticking over whilst out from the boat but on this occasion the mistake was to load the coal too high. With regard to the smoke and fire alarms, Mrs Doorman often complains at the sensitivity of our 'Fire Angel' alarms and the need to reset them once activated, but I simply remind her that it is comforting to know that they are there and they work!

 

Incidentally, one of our boating friends suffered serious burns to his neck and back requiring extensive hospital treatment. Thankfully, not from fire but in tripping over his dog after a beer tasting event and reaching out to cushion his fall, but grabbing a boiling hot pan of water on his hob by mistake. Although we like a pint or three, alcohol and boats are a sorry mix if uncontrolled.

Sadly I suspect that alcohol is a contributing factor to many accidents / deaths on the waterways .

[Doorman]

Sadly I suspect that alcohol is a contributing factor to many accidents / deaths on the waterways .

 

Either that or sheer stupidity!

[WJM]

We recently lit our stove before going off ..... During the day the wind speed increased thus drawing the fumes from the chimney and wafting the flames from within the stove.

 

When we returned later the boat was like a sauna and the surrounding wooden furniture worryingly hot.

I dont know how people can live with coal or wood burning stoves - horrible hard work lugging fuel in and ash out, and storing it - and now this problem too! The worst that my diesel system can do is shut itself down if it dangerously overheats. Give me diesel every time!

[Lady Muck]

Free wood = free heating? We boaters on our moorings made friends with a tree surgeon.

[Doorman]

I dont know how people can live with coal or wood burning stoves - horrible hard work lugging fuel in and ash out, and storing it - and now this problem too! The worst that my diesel system can do is shut itself down if it dangerously overheats. Give me diesel every time!

 

Even with the associated side effects, there's only one thing better than a real log or coal burning fire, real ale!

[KevMc]

I dont know how people can live with coal or wood burning stoves - horrible hard work lugging fuel in and ash out, and storing it - and now this problem too! The worst that my diesel system can do is shut itself down if it dangerously overheats. Give me diesel every time!

 

I don't know how I managed it but my diesel stove (Reflexs) overheated something terrible last year .... there were flames coming out of the top and it was roaring. I had to switch off the fuel supply and it took nearly 20 minutes to reduce to a mild conflagration.

[magnetman]

I have done the same with a refleks and its the only time I have let off a fire extinguisher albeit for half a second. it was glowing red.

 

coal fires are fundamentally reliable and when you need heating you need it no messing about

 

some people LIKE coal or wood fires

 

after all why go boating on the cut you have to wind all those locks an push those big wooden levers too much agro

[WJM]

I have had 'run-aways' with my Reflex just like you describe but, dramatic though it can look, they are not a big problem. For some reason you get an oversupply of diesel (in my case from messing with the regulator) and the diesel begins to pool, then boil and ignite. But because the overheat trip shuts the diesel supply off you only need sit back and let it burn itself out. The ignitions certainly don't seem powerful enough to do any damage, they can barely lift the lid more than in inch or two. It is dramatic, certainly but not a worry.

[cariad]

I dont know how people can live with coal or wood burning stoves - horrible hard work lugging fuel in and ash out, and storing it - and now this problem too! The worst that my diesel system can do is shut itself down if it dangerously overheats. Give me diesel every time!

It has also been known to have gone out,keep drip feeding diesel and spilling into the saloon.

[WJM]

It has also been known to have gone out,keep drip feeding diesel and spilling into the saloon.

That would suggest that there is something wrong with your regulator settings - if mine flames out then the diesel stops flowing in when it about 1cm deep - without intervention. I assume it is something to do with the height of the regulator relative to the floor of the burner.

 

If that happens I just burn the pool off by adding meths light it and leave it unfed for a while.

[alan_fincher]

Goodness, these Diesel stoves sound a lot safer and more reliable than a solid fuel one, don't they!

[magnetman]

 

the only two times I have had trouble with heating systems in 19 years living on boats was with a Refleks once and a Mikuni which flooded and sent white unurnt diesel about so much that a local flat dweller complained.

 

coal fires are a bit grubby but they don't give agro like that