A ship fire in port is a rare incident but few have been recorded in ports around the world. Most ports are well prepared to extinguish fires since ports usually have cargo storage facilities on the premises and these cargo could be potentially compo-stable thus the port authorities have invested heavily in to firefighting equipment that is on standby 24/7 in case a fire were to break out.

Fire is the biggest threat that both the vessel crew and port authorities have while working on different vessels at the port. Even though the vessel poss. minimal risk to fire the drill must be conducted on each ship and readiness must be maintained 24/7 with three different shifts changing and waiting to extinguish any incident that may occur. The danger does not limited to the port alone but also extends to the storage area and especially the crude oil storage facilities that are usually placed further away from the port itself.   Vessels that have potentially explosive cargo like crude oil, fuels, LPG and fertilizer among other hazardous materials must give prior notice and inform the port in advance before entering, this is done to make sure the fire fighting department is ready to extinguish any fire that may start accidentally. Being prepared to extinguish fires is key to success on board a vessel and on port premises. Having modern equipment also plays a major role towards successfully extinguishing fires.   Port authorities usually have both land based fire fighters who approach vessels as they dock as well as fire fighting tug boats that can approach a vessel while entering or leaving the port while ablaze. The fire extinguishing materials also vary with different materials used to extinguish different fire like fuel oil fire require foam extinguished were as other fire would require water or carbon dioxide extinguishers. All the different extinguishers must be available at all times and in ample quantity. To make sure that the fire fighter has enough material to avoid running out of extinguishing material a permanent pipeline is installed to each docking position were fire hoses can be attached. There is also a pumping station to maximize the pressure and quantity of fire extinguishing material delivered to the point. The pump house is located in a central location in the port premises were it serves two purposes of pumping fire extinguishing material to all points around the port and refilling the mobile fire fighting tugs that may require more fire fighting agents during a fire fighting incident. having up to date equipment and training to fight fires on marine vessel is vital since ships carry vast amounts of fuel as well as cargo that is in most cases combat-able martial’s, so it is imperative that the preclusion be available to arrest any fire at the initial stages to avoid any escalated disaster that may occurs from this.