(WASHINGTON) — On Dec. 1, 2024, about 0352, the pipelayer Deep Energy was docked at the Millard Maritime facility in Theodore, Ala., undergoing maintenance, when a fire started in one of the vessel’s three crane cabins. The crew began fighting the fire and contacted the local fire department, which extinguished the fire. There were no injuries. The crane cabin on Deep Energy sustained significant fire damage that was estimated at $1.8 million.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of the fire within the knuckle-boom crane cabin was likely the result of an unknown malfunction of, or an electrical fault within, the refrigerator or its associated electrical receptacle.
“A post-casualty investigation identified a fire pattern on the bulkhead on the starboard side of the crane cabin behind a compact refrigerator, indicating that this location was the likely origin of the fire. A failure of the refrigerator’s hermetically sealed compressor or an electrical fault could have caused the fire,” the NTSB said in its report. “Additionally, there were two 110-volt electrical receptacles in the crane cabin, including the receptacle the refrigerator was plugged into, which were protected by a 15-amp breaker. If there had been an electrical fault – such as a loose, broken, or frayed wire, or broken receptacle hardware – within the receptacle, it could have created excessive resistance heating, which could have led to the ignition of nearby combustibles.
“However, because the vessel’s breakers were opened as part of the response to the fire, it is unknown whether this breaker tripped. Due to the extent of the fire damage to the refrigerator and elsewhere within the crane cabin, the exact ignition source and cause of the fire could not be determined,” the report said.
“Once an ignition source was produced, combustible materials (including shelving and plastic bins) mounted on the bulkhead, above the fire’s likely origin, ignited and provided a path for the fire to expand up the bulkhead to the rest of the crane cabin.”
Click here to read the complete report.
– National Transportation Safety Board
