The one thing we worry about while cruising is fire. Storms at sea don’t bother us, we are not concerned with pirates, and we think we can avoid a collision with other vessels and navigation risks. But if a fire gets started in the confines of a small yacht, you have a very short window of opportunity in which to put it out. After that – and this might only be a minute or less – the smoke and toxic fumes are going to drive you into fresh air.

From brief secondhand observation, cruising boat fires usually start with electrical short circuits, hot oil on exhausts in the engine room, smoke stack heating, in the galley, or from propane. Most of these risks can be dealt with by proper design (double pole circuit breakers, for example, and fusing the output side of alternators), good maintenance, and common sense.

We should add that we have never experienced a fire, and we can think of only one of our cruising friends who have had one; this was a galley fire, easily put out with a nearby extinguisher.

But we still take this risk very seriously, which is why we have an array of Halon extinguishers around the boat, an automatic fire suppression system in the engine room, the ability to shut off fuel flow and air into the engine room, and dual pole breakers on all our circuits.

The subject of different types of fire fighting gear, what to use for different situations, and details on avoiding the problem is too big to cover here in detail. What we want to do is give a couple of hints which we picked up from our hands-on experience from Dug Jensen, our survival course instructor.

First, have a fire fighting duty roster, even if it is just for two of you aboard. Time is going to be of essence, so you need to know who is going to do what and in which order. These duties include fighting the fire (and backing up the fire fighter if there are more than two crew aboard), getting ready to abandon ship, and sending a distress message.

Smoke rises, so if you need to get out of an area with smoke, keeping low gives you a better chance to be able to breath as you make your way.

If the fire is in a closed compartment, and you can see the flames or smoke through a port or maybe under the edge of the door, it is a bad idea to open the door to see what is going on. This admits more oxygen, which will allow the fire to burn hotter, or perhaps the fire has not really gotten going in which case the inrush of oxygen may be all it needs to flare.

Our two professional fishing skippers, Bo Abbjorn (right) and Carter Hughes (left) close in on a gasoline fire while Dug Jensen looks on and gives direction. Bo is the primary fire fighter, using a dry powder extinguisher, while Carter backs him up, but does not fight the fire (Carter has a C02 extinguisher). Note how Bo is aiming at the base of the fire, from a distance of 10 feet (3m). He is walking his nozzle back and forth across the base.

Closing in now, he just about has the fire smothered.

Dug relights the gasoline (using a flare on the end of a pole) and then Carter gives the CO2 a try. He is aiming at the far edge of the pan, so the CO2 will be deflected into the container to smother the fire.

Within a few seconds the fire is out.

Linda now works a dry powder extinguisher, which is almost out of suppressant. In the real world, with a partially exhausted extinguisher like this, she might have to risk getting closer to the fire so that the remaining material is more effective. Another reason to carry multiple extinguishers.

One of the things which Dug emphasized over and over was to "never turn your back on a fire, even when you think it is out." It could flare back up unexpectedly, sometimes minutes after you think it has been dealt with.

When Dug set up the abandon ship scenario for our "team" aboard Wind Horse, he did so using fire as the problem. So while some of the team were busy fighting the theoretical fire, others were getting ready to abandon ship. It was obvious that a little preparation and practice go a long way, especially if you are cruising short handed.

We have assumed that in many situations our big aluminum dinghy is our best life boat. But it is heavy, and needs our deck winch to hoist it overboard. Of course this requires power, which might be off if we suspect an electrical cause of the fire. So, we are going to practice launching with the manual winch. If the fire is in the engine room, do we have time to get the dink off before it becomes too hot? Or can we even get to the life raft? We need to give these issues some thought.

Here’s a recap of some of the main points we’ve picked up. First, prevention:

• Make sure electrical circuits are properly fused, including alternator output. For highest safety, fuse positive and negative sides of circuits.
• If using propane, have a solenoid at the tank (tank is outside, vented locker) and a single piece of hose from regulator to stove. With a gimbaled stove, pay extra attention to hose and fittings near stove.
• When carrying charcoal, keep it dry and stored where it will not cause a problem if it self-ignites (wet charcoal can spontaneously combust).
• Watch for leaks on flammable liquids near heater and exhaust lines (flammables include diesel fuel, hydraulic oil, lube oil).
• If outboard gas is carried, be sure its fumes cannot get below and there are no potential sources of ignition nearby.
• Be vigilant about chafe in the engine room, especially on electrical and fuel systems.
• Store oily waste (rags, paper towels) in metal containers, away from heat sources.
• Keep the engine room, bilges, and heater areas clean and free of flammables.
• Keep paint, thinner, degreaser, MEK, acetone, etc. sealed in a separate, vented area, away from heat sources.
• If electric space heaters are used, take care where they are set up and make sure there are no flammable materials close by. Do not use these under way when they might tip over.
• Always turn off the propane solenoid valve when through with the stove.
• If there is a smoke hood or vent for stove, be sure to clean grease periodically.
• Store flammable items such as cardboard away from heat sources.
• Never leave stove or other cooking appliances unattended.

Then, fire fighting preparation:

• Be able to shut off fuel and air supply to engine room.
• Have several different classes of fire extinguishers.
• Have a fire suppression system in the engine room. If this is Halon or similar, an auto shut down system for genset, main engine, and heater will need to be installed.
• Battery switches need to be away from potential fire areas so you can get to them (and never in the engine room).
• Have extinguishers near risk areas, for example the galley and engine room (we carry two for the engine room, two for the galley, and one in each sleeping cabin).
• Check fire extinguishers monthly (read the gauge if one is present).
• Watch for corrosion on extinguishers. Replace if they start to corrode.
• If an extinguisher is used, refill right away.
• Carry personal smoke hoods to aid fire fighters.
• Have a deck hose ready for fire fighting and cooling (not for electrical fires).

Finally, fire fighting:

• Be familiar with fire fighting gear.
• Practice with extinguishers.
• Have assigned jobs for the crew (fire fighter, back up person, getting out call on radio, preparing to abandon ship).
• Never turn your back on the fire – it could flare up again.
• Do not open doors to areas which may be ready to ignite or have started to burn.
• Close air vents to engine room, shut off fuel supply if there is an engine room fire.
• Do not assume just because the initial blaze appears to be out that it cannot reignite.
• Be sure to check hidden areas outboard of furniture and hull and headlining.
• If an electrical fire is suspected shut down power source.
• Practice simulated fire fighting drills with crew.