REVIEW AND RATIONALISATION OF POST-FIRE MONITORING FOR ATMOSPHERE CONTROL IN SUBMARINES

In the event of a fire in the enclosed space of a submarine a set routine for post-fire monitoring and air purification is detailed in Royal Navy (RN) documents. Currently there is a set of chemical species required to be monitored throughout all compartments of the submarine. During the fire and post-fire clean-up the crew have to remain on a secondary breathing system to sustain life, a period which may last several hours, which is neither comfortable nor operationally effective. Because of the time involved, the consequence to operations and the discomfort to the crew a full review of the process is being undertaken. This is being carried out to evaluate the likelihood of the chemicals being produced in a fire and their toxicological effects, which may indicate marker gases, to prevent the need to monitor all gases currently listed and determine if post-fire routines may be revised. The majority of fires occurring in ships and submarines have been small and have been extinguished promptly with only very minor damage. The threat of a fire breaking out on a submarine is high. Occasionally fires have resulted in extensive damage and casualties. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the toxic gases produced from fires on RN submarines and to underline the acute and chronic effects those gases have on the human body. The fire characteristics of materials used in the construction, operation and maintenance of submarines, obtained by the fire testing on materials, will be summarised. Additionally, information has been extracted from records of actual instances of fire on board submarines. The data on the amount of fire effluent (narcotic gases, irritant gases, and smoke), and the toxic effects have been summarized, including the sub lethal effects, which are important because they may reduce the effectiveness of crew performing critical tasks. From this review recommendations for the measurements of marker gases for post fire monitoring have been recommended.