[Rhodes22-list] An Ongoing Lithium Battery Fire At Sea?

Mon Feb 21 19:26:06 EST 2022

Sorry, Roger. I thought the white smoke meant there was a new pope. 😊

Mark

Boston, MA

2000 R22 *Luna Mia*

On Mon, Feb 21, 2022 at 3:52 PM ROGER PIHLAJA <roger_pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:

> Mark,
>
> You make a good point about the rest of the vehicles on board the ship.
> However, I noticed that throughout this event, the color of the smoke
> coming from the ship was white.  This color smoke is characteristic of
> lithium fires.  Whereas, if hydrocarbons, like gasoline, fuel oil, or tires
> were burning, particularly in a depleted oxygen environment, the smoke
> would be black.  The lithium fires may have raised the interior temperature
> so high; that, the carbon particles in the black hydrocarbon smoke are
> being completely combusted to white ash particles, producing white smoke.
> This would be consistent with the steel outer hull skin panels being
> destroyed.
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Feb 21, 2022, at 2:13 PM, Mark Whipple <mark at whipplefamily.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > I agree that it's highly probable that there are EV vehicles with
> lithium
> > batteries among the nearly 4,000 vehicles on board, but it's a good bet
> > there are also many conventionally powered vehicles with gasoline in the
> > tanks. Once the rubber and plastic parts on any car ignite it can be
> > difficult to extinguish - especially if a number of vehicles become
> > enflamed. I'm going to guess it will be months or years before the causes
> > of the fire are identified and publicized - if the ship actually makes it
> > to a port to be examined.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > Boston, MA
> >
> > 2000 R22 *Luna Mia*
> >
> >
> >> On Mon, Feb 21, 2022 at 8:33 AM ROGER PIHLAJA <roger_pihlaja at msn.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi All,
> >>
> >> Almost 6 days after the fire started, the M/V Felicity Ace is still
> >> ablaze, unmanned, and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean.  Lithium battery
> fires
> >> burn much hotter vs “ordinary” hydrocarbon fires.  In the attached
> picture,
> >> you can see a fire fighting ship attempting to cool the hull by spraying
> >> water on it.  But, ~1/4 of the exterior steel skin, just aft of
> amidships,
> >> has been already been burned away leaving only the underlying steel
> >> substructure and you can see lots of other steel skin plating blackened
> and
> >> ready to fail.  Firefighters cannot go on board because of the heat and
> >> toxic fumes given off by the burning Lithium batteries.  All they can
> do is
> >> spray water on the outside of the ship in the hope of cooling it off.
> The
> >> only way I can think of extinguishing this fire would be to pump massive
> >> amounts of dry chemical fire extinguishing media through out the ship
> and
> >> smother the flames.  Then, you might have to wait weeks for the whole
> mess
> >> to cool off.  I think they are rushing an ocean tug to the scene.  But,
> the
> >> M/V Felicity Ace is too big to put in to any port in Azores Islands.
> So,
> >> they would have to tow it someplace like Portugal?  There might be an
> issue
> >> getting any port to accept a burning ship!
> >>
> >> Frankly, it’s a miracle the fuel tanks haven’t gone up yet!
> >>
> >> With so much of the skin of the hull burned away, it’s only a matter of
> >> time before a storm swamps and sinks her.
> >>
> >> Remember, these are the supposedly “safer” batteries installed in EV’s.
> >> There are starting to be more and more media stories about the role of
> the
> >> Lithium batteries in this fire.
> >>
> >> [cid:image003.jpg at 01D826FD.9A2384B0]
> >>
> >> Roger Pihlaja
> >> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
> >>
> >> Sent from Mail<
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> for Windows
> >>
> >> From: ROGER PIHLAJA<mailto:Roger_Pihlaja at msn.com>
> >> Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2022 8:12 AM
> >> To: The Rhodes 22 Email List<mailto:rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> >> Subject: An Ongoing Lithium Battery Fire At Sea?
> >>
> >> Hi All,
> >>
> >> On February 10, 2022; the 656 ft LOA car carrier cargo ship, the M/V
> >> Felicity Ace, departed from Emden, Germany with a cargo of nearly 4000
> new
> >> Porsches and VW’s.  The Felicity Ace was bound for Davisville, Rhode
> Island
> >> and was due to arrive on February 23, 2022.  On February 16th, the
> Felicity
> >> Ace sent out a distress signal after a fire broke out in the cargo
> hold.  A
> >> Portuguese navy patrol boat and 4 other merchant vessels responded to
> the
> >> distress call.  All 22 crew members have been rescued.  But, the vessel
> is
> >> still on fire and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores Islands.
> >> The M/V Felicity Ace was built in 2005 as a dedicated car carrier and
> has
> >> modern fire suppression systems.  The cause of the fire is still under
> >> investigation and there is little information available as yet.  But,
> there
> >> were certainly a large number of Lithium battery EV’s among the cargo.
> No
> >> matter how the fire started, the fact that the onboard fire suppression
> >> systems have been unable to extinguish it is suspicious.  Hopefully,
> they
> >> will somehow get the fire under control before the vessel sinks or we
> may
> >> never find out what happened.
> >>
> >> Stay tuned, this could turn into a major Lithium battery EV safety
> scandal!
> >>
> >> Roger Pihlaja
> >> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
> >>
> >> Sent from Mail<
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> for Windows
> >>
> >>
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