Ship fire in Ashtabula

[Guest]

Does the Cuyahoga have bucket elevator unloading system? I'm sure she doesn't use incline belts, but a loop belt perhaps?
- Brian

The Cuyahoga has a gravity fed dual belt, hydraulic, unloading system at the bottom that discharges to a bucket style elevator. The bucket elevator empties onto a 250 ft single belted conveyor. The system is nearly identical to that used by her sisters likek the George A. Sloan ( Mississagi), Crispen Olgebay ( Algoma Transfer), Robert C. Norton, John T. Hutchinson and Richard Reiss.

[Syd bc]

Canadian Ambassador or Pioneer In New Brunswick fire while unloading phosphate stone

[Guest]

Fire aboard vessels while they are in layup or at a shipyard are not uncommon, they are infrequent, but do occur on occasion. Why? Because "hot work", i.e. welding, is being done as new equipment is being installed, replaced or repaired. Conveyor belt fires can easily happen and spread quickly if an inerrant spark from welding or even grinding operations is not noticed and put our quickly.

And there are increasing occurrences of fire onboard RoRo vessels, as more and more electric vehicles with lithium ion batteries are being carried. Generally, those ships will eventually sink due to the amount of cars densely packed in the cargo holds and the near impossibility of putting out a lithium ion battery fire in such cramped conditions.

[Guest]

The Canadian Ambassader suffered a bearing failure in the unloading system, which then caused the belts to catch fire. This occurred at Belledune, NB on December 31, 1994 while unloading phosphate.

On September 12, 2013, the Canadian Ambassader, now renamed Pramidita, had another conveyor belt fire while unloading coal at the power plant in Banten, Indonesia.

https://kntrisulap111.wordpress.com/sar ... dita-2013/

[Mn bob]

With all the fires that have been happening aboard ships after they have been welding or cutting you would think they would be very vigilant in watching these areas after the work has been done as to prevent these fires.

[Marc]

So in the last 10 years or so, the ALPENA, BLOUGH, ST.CLAIR and now the CUYAHOGA have caught fire in shipyards or layup docks. Did I miss any?

What's up with that?

Unfortunately, Belt Fires are not uncommon. Here are just a few:

August 29, 1984 - Tunnel Fire aboard M/V Nanticoke while docked in Quebec City
March 2, 1986 - Tunnel Fire aboard Algosoo at Port Colborne - $10 Million in damage
September 27, 1989 - Tunnel Fire aboard H.M. Griffith in Lock 8 of Welland Canal - Burned for 11 hours
October 16, 1990 - Tunnel Fire aboard John B. Aird while docked at Indiana Harbor - Burned for 7 Hours
January 24, 1991 - Explosion aboard J.W. McGiffin while in Hamilton, Ontario

[Guest]

These fires have also had the effect of taking just enough capacity out of the market. Might be why we haven't seen any recent long-term layups or scrapping of boats.

IMO the next event that causes that will be the closure of the remaining DTE coal plants (Belle River and Monroe).

[Guest]

Does the Cuyahoga have bucket elevator unloading system? I'm sure she doesn't use incline belts, but a loop belt perhaps?

- Brian

[Guest]

It’s been reported the tug ( Minnesota?) is enroute to Ashtabula.thought I read that somewhere last couple days.

[Denny]

Am I correct in assuming from what I have heard and read on the recent Cuyahoga fire, that is started either on deck or near or around the unloading boom and eventually it then spread forward? Doesn’t this to me sound similiar to what happened to the St. Clair that eventually and ultimately doomed her? On the St. Clair, if I’m correct the fire started at or near the engine room area and destroyed the aft superstructure and didn’t it spread to any of the forward end? From photos of her, it appears that No it did not spread forward much if at all on the St. Clair yet the unloading boom and the conveyor belts were badly destroyed by the fire! Hope I’m making sense with all of this. Sorry if I am incorrect on any of my information. Please add or feel free to correct me and update me on all of this! Thank You.

[ashland69]

From news photos it looks real bad.maybe finally the end for her

You just might be right. These conveyor belt fires generate an awful lot of heat and burn for hours because of (1) what's burning...in this case rubber, and (2), the limited and difficult access that firefighters have to contain and extinguish such a fire. The big issue, as I understand it, is the heat. If the steel plating and framing warps bad enough, the damage could be irreparable and the boat could be written off and scrapped.

[Geest]

So in the last 10 years or so, the ALPENA, BLOUGH, ST.CLAIR and now the CUYAHOGA have caught fire in shipyards or layup docks. Did I miss any?

What's up with that?

St Clair, Blough and this Cuyahoga were all becasue of sloppy work accidents and lacking fire prevention measures, i.e. by the time the fire was noticed it was too late to stop it from going out of control.

Tecumseh and the last Cuyahoga fires were operational engine room casualties. The Tecumseh reflashed and totaled the boat while the Cuyahogas did not and was repaired.

[Mn bob]

Not trying to be cynical or non caring but it’s a short tow across the lake to the scrap yard. Not sure this ship can survive two fires. At some point the cost becomes too great for the repairs and they might cut their losses due to the age of the ship. They always have the American valor waiting in the wings to be sailed again.

[Guest]

Age has had nothing to do with these fires.

[Guest]

Age played no role in these ship fires.it’s been negligence during layup work except the cuyahoga fire in Lake Erie last summer

[Guest]

I believe in each of these cases the cause of the fire(s) was work done by shoreside crews. The boats being older might mean they have more layers of paint and more dunnage but other than that - what happened to policies and procedures during layup and winter work? Like fire watches?
Same with the fire that occurred recently during the scrapping of the MISSISSAGI.

So in the last 10 years or so, the ALPENA, BLOUGH, ST.CLAIR and now the CUYAHOGA have caught fire in shipyards or layup docks. Did I miss any?

What's up with that?

What's up with this? The newest of these ships is the St. Clair...from the mid-70s. Best part of 50 years old, when the lifespan of a ship is typically 30 years.

Age isn't the issue in every case, but the pattern is pretty clear.

[Denny]

Yes the Cuyahoga was the same ship that had the engine room fire last year in May 2023. She was repaired then and later was brought back into service in the fall of 2023. I find it very interesting if you will, her former Lower Lakes Fleetmate the Mississagi also caught fire while being scrapped at Algoma near the Soo recently as well. Both ships I think were built at about the same time in 1943 if I am correct? Also,an earlier post had listed some of the serious fires aboard Lake ships in the past 10 years or so. That person and poster had asked the question of Did I miss any? Yes, the Tecumseh formerly with Lower Lakes and don’t forget about the former Boblo boat Ste. Claire also catching fire while laid up at its Dock a few years ago too. Although not as serious as say the Cuyahoga, Blough and also the St. Clair but the Algoma Discovery I recall had a fire aboard her just a few years ago while in layup at Port Colborne. There may be others not listed but, these are a few that I can come up with and recall for now. Anyone else have more to add or recall and remember?

[Guest_SB]

So in the last 10 years or so, the ALPENA, BLOUGH, ST.CLAIR and now the CUYAHOGA have caught fire in shipyards or layup docks. Did I miss any?

What's up with that?

What's up with this? The newest of these ships is the St. Clair...from the mid-70s. Best part of 50 years old, when the lifespan of a ship is typically 30 years.

Age isn't the issue in every case, but the pattern is pretty clear.

[Guest]

From news photos it looks real bad.maybe finally the end for her

[Mn bob]

Boy the cuyahoga can’t catch a break, wasn’t this the same ship that had the engine room fire on Lake Erie last summer?