This doesn't ring right. I accept that someone with an inboard
petrol motor may have such an explosion that there's no chance of
doing anything but leave, but consider:

1) This is a stove fire which "flares up". Implies alcohol or
kerosene, though I suppose a bump could make liquid propane jump
up and out through the supply hose.

2) if the stove is going, surely the man is in close attendance,
if not actually on top of it. Indeed, the man saw it start.

3) a fat fire, spilt alcohol fire or spilt kerosene fire in the
galley should be amenable to fast attack with reasonable
expectation of smothering or extinguishing it.

3) where oh where are the TWO (2) fire extinguishers required on
a boat that size? Aware that the galley is the most likely soruce
of fire below, Lady Kate has her extinguishers in the 2 places
her crew is most likely to be in the event of a galley fire. At
the companionway, easily accessible without roasting hands from
on deck; and at the far end of the saloon, for those separated
from the companionway by a "sheet of flame" in the galley. And
they're not dinky 1kg extinguishers either.

4) why no mention of any attempt to fight it?

AND finally, a question: I quote
"That was my home and you've got to make sure if there is an incident it can be
handled, that's why I have the extra equipment.
"By having an extra portable radio on my jacket as well as an EPIRB on my jacket
it means you are able to cut down (rescuers')
travel time.

Would it not have been better, perhaps, to have bought in-date
fire extinguishers rather than that extra portable radio (to cut
down rescuer's time)?

Summary, based on the report: someone who was well prepared and
ready to be rescued, at the expense of being prepared enough to
avoid the need for rescue in the first place. There is, of
course, an alternative summary, but I'll leave that for the
cynical to mention.

FLying Tadpole


jlrogers wrote:

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.a...5E3102,00.html

WHEN fire broke out on a boat off Double Island Point yesterday Warren Franks lost his home but escaped with his life.

About an hour after the fire started Mr Franks was pulled to safety from his 2.45-metre dinghy by the Coastguard, answering a mayday
call from the veteran of 35 years sailing experience.

There had been no sign that Mr Franks's 8.3 metre sloop Good Intentions was to hit trouble, literally, at the point, south of Fraser
Island.

It was 6am, dawn was breaking, the sea was calm and the coffee was brewing.

"I hit something. I don't know what it was. It didn't seem solid enough to have been a container, it may have been a log, but I'm
hoping it wasn't a whale," he said.

The boat which had been his home for 15 months rose out of the water, lurched left and then right, causing the stove to flare up.

Flames shot across the cabin, igniting furnishings.

"There was a flash of light in the cabin . . . then a second bigger flash and I realised I couldn't stay so I pulled the dinghy up
and jumped in," Mr Franks said.

"I'm no hero, I've seen the burns on the Bali bombing victims. When flames start licking out the windows it's time to go."

Quick thinking had him clear of the flames, but it was Mr Franks's readiness for emergency which had the Coastguard singing his
praises safely back on land two hours after the fire broke out.

"He really was the ideal rescue subject . . . the whole thing was a textbook rescue," a Noosa Coastguard spokeswoman said.

"The fire was in the cabin so he couldn't go back in there but he had an EPIRB with him as well as a hand-held radio so he used that
to call for help. We like people like him because it makes our job easier."

Mr Franks said he always wore a jacket which held a spare emergency position indicating radio beacon and radio but he played down
his role in the rescue, attributing its success to the expertise of the Coastguard.

"They were the ones that did the amazing work," he said.

"That was my home and you've got to make sure if there is an incident it can be handled, that's why I have the extra equipment.

"By having an extra portable radio on my jacket as well as an EPIRB on my jacket it means you are able to cut down (rescuers')
travel time.


"I've always got it on when I'm at sea just in case I can't get to the equipment on my boat, and in this instance I couldn't."

Mr Franks said he would stay with his son in Brisbane until he sorted out the insurance and got himself another boat.

"Like people who lose their homes in a bushfire, you dust yourself off and get started again. I'm not a millionaire. I've got two
kids so that negates any chances of that, but I'll be all right."

The Energex Community Rescue Helicopter was searching for the yacht, which was presumed to have sunk.