In article , Thom
Stewart wrote:

Nutsy,

You've made quite a few good points. I'm not sure yet. They are
setting-up the fire area to make ready for the activation of the
installed extinguishing system. This I have to agree with. The area
needs to be sealed. They are still talking of putting the fire out.
They aren't talking about sealing and leaving!! This is still my point.

I don't have an extinguishing system!! I would have to bring down my
Jenny and soak it in the water and try and use it to smother the fire
and feeding water with a bucket to keep it wet. For this I would need
the companion way. If I couldn't enter, I'd use the whisker pole and
boat hook to position the wet Jenny. If I couldn't get to the forward
part of the cabin I'd use the Hatchet, I keep in the stern locker with
the bolt cutters I keep there. (To cut away a knocked down mast) to chop
a hole in the coach roof. I would be getting water on that damned fire.

That scenario you post for the High Rise in NYC really doesn't apply to
a vessel on the High Sea. In my mind!

Didn't read Bob****'s post but the 'seal up the space' scenario does
happen on big ships which are designed/built with watertight, airtight
doors and halon firefighting systems.

Been there done that. First we tried to snuff the fire and when it was
obvious we couldn't, sealed the spaces and released the halon. Waited
hours to see if the space was cooling or not. 24 hours later,
re-entered the space to check it out and start fixing the mess. This is
a one-shot; if the fire flares again your halon system is gone and so
is the ship so you do wait and then you enter the space wearing full BA
and close the door behind you to minimise oxygen entry.

I don't recommend ever trying this unless there's no other choice.
However I doubt its applicability to small pleasure craft. As part of
our biannual training we fight fires in simulated bilge spaces. Putting
out an oil based fire when it can reflash from a space out of reach of
extinguishers (under deck plates etc) is a real *******. How many small
pleasure craft can seal well enough to choke off airflow? A steel boat,
maybe, but even an aluminium boat, the Al melts at a bit under 660C and
distorts/slumps earlier. Even if the boat seals at ambient temperature,
it probably won't with a heated gas plume and open fire going.

PDW