On February 1, 2021, about 0131 local time, a fire started in the engine room on the Roger Blough during the dry bulk carrier’s winter layup at the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding facility on Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The cargo-unloading conveyor belts subsequently ignited, causing extensive damage throughout the aft section of the vessel. The shipkeeper on board departed the vessel without injury. Firefighters extinguished the fire later that afternoon. No pollution was reported. Damage to the Roger Blough exceeded $100 million.
We determined that the probable cause of the engine room fire aboard the bulk carrier Roger Blough was likely the repeated removal and reinstallation of the furnace’s burner that led to the failure of its mounting coupling, resulting in the operating burner dropping to the bottom of its enclosure and fracturing its fuel supply line, which allowed diesel fuel to ignite. Contributing to the casualty was the absence of a fire-activated automatic fuel oil shutoff valve on the fuel oil inlet piping before the burner, which would have stopped the fuel feeding the fire shortly after it started and limited the spread of the fire.
As a result of this investigation, we made safety recommendations to the US Coast Guard, the American Bureau of Shipping and to Key Lakes Inc.
