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Video of Fire on thr Star Princess

patval

By patval,
in Holland America Line

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grandsix

grandsix

Posted
Posted

It is so important for everyone to take the onboard Fire Drill very serious. Unfortunately we are seeing more and more people either reluctant to participate or complaining about it being a waste of time. Most importantly, get to know your emergency station.

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ore-ee-gun

ore-ee-gun

Posted
Posted

During the lifeboat drill on our recent Oosterdam cruise, a woman next to me complained loudly the entire time about having to put on her lifejacket and stand "forever" (what, 15 minutes is forever?) during the drill, and that on Princess, they were able to stay in the lounge for the lifeboat drill. :eek: Does anybody know if this is true?

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HeatherInFlorida

HeatherInFlorida

Posted
Posted

Yes, that is true of Princess. However, it isn't as bad as it seems because the idea is that you gather there and if it's a true emergency, shipboard personnel will lead you to your lifeboat station.

 

On Celebrity they do something similar. You gather in a lounge, but then proceed to your lifeboat station. The good side of that is if there is, for instance, a fire in the area of your lifeboat station, they can make a switch and lead you to another lifeboat area.

 

Sadly, the reason so many people complain about lifeboat drills is they absolutely don't understand they're about to be at sea on a ship in the middle of the ocean and anything can happen.

 

It's the "it can't happen to me" mentality that I usually associate with children.:) So if nothing else, hopefully this sad event may wise up some people. Let's hope so anyway!

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Grumpy1

Grumpy1

Posted
Posted

On the audio of the tape, I heard the announcement from the bridge for everyone to proceed to their muster stations. Then I heard the person being interviewed talk about everyone running around unsure of what to do. Hello! What part of "proceed to your muster station" was not understood? Or didn't they take the muster drill seriously enough to know where to proceed to?

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WNYCRUISER

WNYCRUISER

Posted
Posted
On the audio of the tape, I heard the announcement from the bridge for everyone to proceed to their muster stations. Then I heard the person being interviewed talk about everyone running around unsure of what to do. Hello! What part of "proceed to your muster station" was not understood? Or didn't they take the muster drill seriously enough to know where to proceed to?

 

Apparently this guy thought that "proceed to your muster station" meant grab your video camera and hang off the edge of your balcony!!!!!!

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Travelbug 2

Travelbug 2

Posted
Posted

On an NCL cruise last fall the muster stations were in various public rooms including one of the restaurants. Nobody was allowed to leave until all life jackets had been checked (each had the cabin # on) against a master list.

I assume in a real emergency we would have been led to the lifeboat station by the crew but why use the public rooms instead of the real lifeboat station??

 

I much prefer the HAL way where they call each name from a list to make sure all are accounted for at the designated lifeboat station.

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bruce-r

bruce-r

Posted
Posted
During the lifeboat drill on our recent Oosterdam cruise, a woman next to me complained loudly the entire time about having to put on her lifejacket and stand "forever" (what, 15 minutes is forever?) during the drill, and that on Princess, they were able to stay in the lounge for the lifeboat drill. :eek: Does anybody know if this is true?
Yep, that is exactly how they do it on Princess.
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K&RCurt

K&RCurt

Posted
Posted

Before this incident I thought the HAL system of mustering by the life boats on the promenade made much more sense than gathering in public areas. Now, I'm not so sure. If you look at the star situation 4 or 5 life boats are located just below the area of the fire. Would you want to walk out onto the deck with molten metal from burning verandas raining down on you? Where would you be stopped and re-directed in this type of situation on a HAL ship? Just a thought.

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Navy_Chief

Navy_Chief

Posted
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Fire at sea is serious business as that video shows. Here's an incident that caused everyone to rethink damage control. It costs the lives of 134 sailors but it saves lives today not only in the US Navy but cruise ships as well.

The video:

http://www.dcfp.navy.mil/mc/video/forrestal.htm

The story:

http://www.virtualwall.org/units/forrestal.htm

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arzz

arzz

Posted
Posted

Sobering video. I agree with Grumpy. What did the passengers not understand about the announcement to go to their muster stations? The Chemistry Teacher in me goes absolutely crazy at the thought that anyone would take the time to video tape a fire that was for all practical purposes "in their own home" before getting themselves to a safer location. Even if muster had not officially been called I would have been in my cabin putting on warm clothing and collecting my passport, credit card and life jacket. Fire travels so quickly and unpredictably those folks could have been trapped out on their balcony or in their cabin in just a moment's time!

 

For those posters who are concerned about HAL's method of muster drill, even with this incident in mind, I still prefer NOT to gather in a lounge, but at the actual muster station because

1 - that way we all know exactly where to go to meet our life boat (just in case there is an emergency that allows for very little time)

2 - we all see exactly how we would board the life boats if necessary (I remember drills where at least one boat on each side of the ship was lowered during the drill to make the process abundantly clear)

3 - in the event that a fire or other emergency blocked our path or station there would certainly be staff there to tell us where our alternate location would be

4 - I am sure that in the case of an event as potentially serious as the fire on the Star Princess, the staff would either allow us to sit at our stations or escort us to an assembly area in an appropriate location to wait

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gizmo

gizmo

Posted
Posted
Before this incident I thought the HAL system of mustering by the life boats on the promenade made much more sense than gathering in public areas. Now, I'm not so sure. If you look at the star situation 4 or 5 life boats are located just below the area of the fire. Would you want to walk out onto the deck with molten metal from burning verandas raining down on you? Where would you be stopped and re-directed in this type of situation on a HAL ship? Just a thought.

 

Of course you would have been redirected. Where would you be stopped? How can anyone answer that? I can tell you that the crew is stationed all around the ship to help direct people. I don't believe for one second you would be directed to walk outside under molten metal.

 

Remember a fire can break out anywhere. On other sips if the fire was near a "lounge" you would be redirected to another area of the ship.

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mountainmare

mountainmare

Posted
Posted

After watching the video I have even more respect for the crew of any cruise ship. Awhile ago I watched the drydock series where they had several fires, but seeing the intensity of this fire was frightening.

I love HAL and always go to muster drills and call out my name, but think about this fire and think back to your muster drills. How many of you remember where your station is after the drill--especially on the larger ships?

How many of you (again remember that ships are no longer the size of the Rotterdam) remember the fastest way to get to your cabin, grab your lifejacket and get to your muster station?

I always thought that it was silly to gather groups of people in large public places--now I'm pretty sure that with larger and larger ships this is the safest way to go.

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ekerr19

ekerr19

Posted
Posted

Wow - Unbelievable. How horrible.

 

I'm with mountainmare - how many of us would actually "remember" which way to go to our stations???

 

I'll be paying more attention next cruise, that's for sure.

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chasetf

chasetf

Posted
Posted
After watching the video I have even more respect for the crew of any cruise ship. Awhile ago I watched the drydock series where they had several fires, but seeing the intensity of this fire was frightening. I love HAL and always go to muster drills and call out my name, but think about this fire and think back to your muster drills. How many of you remember where your station is after the drill--especially on the larger ships? How many of you (again remember that ships are no longer the size of the Rotterdam) remember the fastest way to get to your cabin, grab your lifejacket and get to your muster station?

I always thought that it was silly to gather groups of people in large public places--now I'm pretty sure that with larger and larger ships this is the safest way to go.

On some lines we have cruised you "muster station" is an actual lifeboat. When we did the drill, you went to the lifeboat on the promenade deck. Princess does it different. Your muster station is a designated letter. On all Princess ships we have been on A is the main theater up front. B could be a lounge, and so on... each muster station is a public area. Each of the public areas is within steps of the promenade deck where the boats are lowered to.

 

Wow - Unbelievable. How horrible. I'm with mountainmare - how many of us would actually "remember" which way to go to our stations??? I'll be paying more attention next cruise, that's for sure.

Best way to remember which Muster Station you go to is look at your life vest.... every line I can remember being on had it stenciled on the vest. As far a finding it, they always have stair guides. And as I understand, they were in place fairly quickly on the Star Princess at 3am.

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jimmy2x

jimmy2x

Posted
Posted
Fire at sea is serious business as that video shows. Here's an incident that caused everyone to rethink damage control. It costs the lives of 134 sailors but it saves lives today not only in the US Navy but cruise ships as well.

The video:

http://www.dcfp.navy.mil/mc/video/forrestal.htm

The story:

http://www.virtualwall.org/units/forrestal.htm

 

Chief,

Have seen that complete video taken from the CAT lens may times. Was on the Oriskany from 72-75. She also had a huge fire around the same time frame as the Forrestal. They were taken on ammo and some screwball lit off a flare, panicked and thru it into the flare locker. Many people died because they did not have sufficient training in using the old OBA. This caused the development of the air canisters to enable people to get out.

From another old Navy Chief,

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