Government department pressed to study fire causes in fishing boats

A recommendation has been made to the Department of the Marine to carry out a survey of all fishing vessels between 15 and 24 metres long to find out why there is a higher proportion of fires on Irish boats than British ones.

The recommendation, to the Department of the Marine, was made in a report by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCBI) after an investigation into the sinking of the Castletownbere-based Spailpin Fanach.
The vessel sailed out of Castletownbere on September 27, 2004. The next day, at around 5.15 am, skipper Denis O'Regan, noticed the smell of smoke in the wheelhouse. At this time the 62 foot-long vessel was fishing eleven miles west of the Skelling islands. Smoke billowed out as he got into the engine room.

Efforts were successfully made to make a "May Day" message to Valentia marine rescue station. Redmond Whelan, a crew member, also used his mobile phone to get help.

With the fire out of control, the skipper decided to launch the lifeboat. The fishing vessel Ariane, which responded to the May Day rescued the three men shortly before 6.25am. The Spailpin Fanach sank five hours later.
The MCBI report said that the failure of the fire detection system reported by the skipper to be fitted to the vessel to give a warning meant that the fire gained significant hold before it was noticed.