U-21 catches fire in Seattle

[Mike Stewart]

My paint job up in flames literally. from this to this. No details as of yet.

 

[JimClark]

Looks like way more than your paint job went up in flames. Looks to me you will have to rebuild nearly the whole boat to get it back on the water.

Jim

My paint job up in flames literally. from this to this. No details as of yet.

 

[Mike Stewart]

I just talked to Kevin he said he was going into the final turn, heard a boom, looked in his rear view mirror and saw flames. He shut it down and got it stopped as quick as possible, popped the hatch and jumped out. In doing so he screwed up his knee pretty bad. The rescue boat picked him up took him to the medic trailer where he got checked out and as he walked out of the trailer his boat was still burning. It burned for over 20 minutes. It's in bad shape. Link to pics http://picasaweb.google.com/llafleur1/FIREOnU21SEATTLE

link to U-21 website http://www.freedomracingteam.com/base.html

 

[t_hedlund]

that poor boat, that looks very messy , I'm glad no one was hurt. Have they figured out what caused the fire yet! What type of fuel control are they using?

 

[Don Ferrette]

The thing that gets me is after reading about how the boat sat burning for almost 20 minutes is why it took so long to get the foam spray equipped fire boat there. I would think everyone knows (including the Seattle Fire dept I hope) that with the fuel these things run on, in a serious fire as the U-21 experienced, foam is the only way you'll put it out. I bet they don't make that mistake again .......

 

[Mike McKnight]

Man that even made the local CBS affiliate on this morning news today here in NoCal. Must have been a hell of a fire.

 

[Brian Blazer]

I was watching it burn via the live broadcast over the net. They tried to control the fire with water, then the foam boat did come...still took about 10 minutes for the foam to put the fire out. It was amazing.

Brian

 

[Brett Buckmaster]

Guys,

Even made the national news over here in Oz. We had a similiar event happen a couple of years ago where a boat caught fire at a event and it took around 20 minutes for fire crews to attend and extinguish it out. The owner of the boat last I heard was suing the hosting club for the lack of speed attending/extinguishing it out, so the club went into recession.

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

The thing that gets me is after reading about how the boat sat burning for almost 20 minutes is why it took so long to get the foam spray equipped fire boat there. I would think everyone knows (including the Seattle Fire dept I hope) that with the fuel these things run on, in a serious fire as the U-21 experienced, foam is the only way you'll put it out. I bet they don't make that mistake again .......

On the local news this evening they said the problem with the fire boat spraying the foam was a pump that obviously wasn't pumping the foam when it first arrived at the hydo. There's guys posting on the IW "Reduce the Noise" issue that have pissed more than that fireboat was shooting foam at first. Once the pumps started pumping, it still took a lot of foam to extinguish that blaze.

JD

 

[Mike Stewart]

Press release from Freedom Racing:

LOCAL HYDRO UP IN FLAMES

Freedom Racing Team U21 driver okay in Seattle race blaze

The San Diego-based U21 Unlimited hydroplane campaigned by Freedom Racing Team burned in

one of the most fiery blazes witnessed by fans in more than 25 years at Seafair’s Chevrolet Cup on

Seattle’s Lake Washington Sunday afternoon.

San Diego native and driver Kevin Aylesworth, who narrowly survived a violent crash in his Unlimited

Light at last September’s Thunderboat Regatta, escaped the fire with minor injuries.

Freedom Racing Team Owner Jeffrey Michael Johnson, also of San Diego, said the damage to the

hull is so severe it is unknown if the hometown favorite will be ready to compete at the Thunderboat

Regatta on Mission Bay September 15-17.

“We’ll have to get it back to the shop to assess the extent of the damage,” Johnson said. Initial reports

indicated the decks of the boat, engine compartment, and electrical components all need replacing. The

turbine engine is damaged, but Johnson is hoping it can be repaired.

Aylesworth survived a violent, near-death Unlimited Light crash in San Diego at the final race of the

2005 season – just one day following the hometown announcement of the purchase of the Unlimited.

Though the accident didn’t deter him or his family from pursing a dream 30 years in the making, the debut

of the nationally sponsored Miss Simpatico U21 on the 2006 American Boat Racing Association tour has

not been smooth.

In its first outing at the kickoff race in Evansville, Ind., the boat was damaged by debris in the Ohio

River. At the Madison, Ind. race, gearbox troubles knocked the U21 out of the competition. The team

performed consistently in Valleyfield, Quebec, and started establishing momentum in Detroit. They missed

the prestigious Gold Cup final championship race by only 30 points, and made the final the next weekend in

Tri-Cities, Wash.

Johnson said the team has made tremendous progress on the water this season. “We qualified for our

first final heat and broke the 150 mph barrier last weekend in Tri-Cities,” Johnson said. “Our momentum

Local Hydro Up in Flames (page 2 of 2)

was strong and the boat was performing well. This is a disappointing setback for a hard-working crew.”

Aylesworth, 38, has been hanging around the boats since he was six years old. At age 12, the world's

most famous Unlimited hydroplane driver, Bill Muncey, provided him with the 7.5 horsepower Evinrude

outboard that launched his bathtub racing career. He didn't look far for inspiration: his mother Patti

Aylesworth was one of the first female bathtub racers in the region.

That 30-miles-per-hour experience led Kevin successively up the racing chain. Two weeks after his

16th birthday, even before getting his vehicle driver’s license, Aylesworth starting racing 2.5 liter inboard

hydroplanes. He drove 1-liter inboards, 2.5 liter modifieds, 6-liter inboards, and advanced to the

supercharged Unlimited Lights in 2002.

Aylesworth, who logged an impressive 15 Top-5 Finishes on the Unlimited Light circuit over the past

four seasons, said he learned giving back to the community and promoting the sport on the shoreline is as

important as performing on the race course from childhood hero and legendary driver Muncey.

The cornerstone of Freedom Racing Team is its “When We Race, Children Win” campaign. A

percentage of all sponsorship dollars are donated to Children’s Hospital San Diego. Since its inception,

Freedom Racing Team has helped raised more than $100,000 for Children’s Hospital and other charities in

race host cities. The team was racing to benefit the Hydrocephalus Research Guild of Children’s Hospital in

Seattle this weekend.

The 2006 ABRA EnviroPly Championship Tour heads to San Diego(Sept. 15-17. The season kickedoff

in Evansville, Ind. (June 23-25) and included stops in Madison, Ind. (July 1-2), Valleyfield, Quebec (July

7-9), Detroit (July 14-16), Tri-Cities, Wash. (July 28-30), and Seattle (August 4-6).

 

[Mike McKnight]

As a former FF I can tell you that foam systems are a pain in the fanny! We had two engines and a water tender(tanker) that had foam systems. The engines were pre-plumbed but the tender had an outboard system with another pump to pump the foam into the rig. Both systems were cumbersome and we had to train on them at least once a month to be proficient. Thankfully in my 10 years I only had to use it twice on calls. Problem with foam is any wind renders it almost useless. That and the fact that most fuel floats on top of water and can be hard to contain. Only guys I've ever seen that are really good at using foam systems are airport fire crews.

 

[330T]

its always sad when something like that happens. The final pictures show lots of damage but it seems to be some what localized.

 

[Mike Stewart]

I talked to Kevin this morning. The boat will be back in San Diego sometime tomorrow. Kevin said that he had to climb out of the boat himself because the fire was burning so hot so fast that rescue boat couldn't get within 10 feet of the boat. Before getting out he turned on the boats fire extingusher system which he said slowed the flames for about 3 seconds. Jet fuel burns extremely hot, and is extremely hard to extinguish. The electrical system is gone as is the engine and tub, gearbox and oil sump, the entire engine compartment and the cowling , oh and some of the deck. It might not be fixed for San Diego but it will be ready for next season.

 

[Mike Stewart]

Firefighters red-faced after new fireboat fizzles

When its moment of fame finally came, $1.7 million vessel failed to

deliver

By HECTOR CASTRO

P-I REPORTER

The dramatic images on TV during Seafair captured it all -- a ball of

flame that once was a hydroplane, and a boat pouring a stream of white

foam to douse it.

But the boat fighting the fire that

engulfed the hydroplane during the

Chevrolet Cup races on Aug. 6

wasn't the Seattle Fire Department's

shiny new $1.7 million fireboat,

Engine 1.

With a rivalry that already exists

between the Seattle Police

Department's Harbor Patrol and the

Fire Department boat crews, the

incident was bound to be noticed.ith a rivalry that already exists

between the Seattle Police

Department's Harbor Patrol and the

Fire Department boat crews, the

incident was bound to be noticed.

A blue-and-white police responder actually put out the hydro fire when

Engine 1's hoses produced nothing but a trickle.

"It was probably the worst day of my career," said fire Engineer Dick

Chester, who was aboard Engine 1 on the lake that day.

Publicly, Harbor Patrol officers are being diplomatic.

"Every one of us has the potential for equipment failure or malfunction,"

police Sgt. Kevin Haistings said.

Privately, firefighters are embarrassed.

Engine 1 was inaugurated last month with Mayor Greg Nickels touting

it as a state-of-the-art fireboat capable of pumping 6,000 gallons a

minute, traveling more than 25 mph and, at 50 feet, able to maneuver

more easily among Seattle's multiple piers and marinas.

With the equipment it carries, the vessel is supposed to be

able to protect its crew

fighting fires or handling

incidents involving

chemical, biological or

radiological materials.

The boat was built by

MetalCraft Marine, a

leading name in search

and rescue craft. And a

senior engineer visited

frequently. He was also

there when Engine 1

went through sea trials in May.

On July 15, Nickels took part in Engine 1's delivery to Station 5 on

Elliott Bay, where it will be berthed.

When Seafair rolled around, Engine 1 was there.

"It was ready to go," Chester said.

The gleaming new boat, with a pilot room still boasting that new-car

smell, was just one of several vessels on Lake Washington that

weekend, the others coming from Harbor Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard,

the King County Sheriff's Office and other agencies.

When the hydroplane caught fire, forcing its driver to leap into the

water, Patrol 1, a police boat with a hose, began working on the fire.

Patrol 1 has no water canon. So, when Engine 1 arrived at the scene, it

was to be its debut.

"As soon as Engine 1 was ready to initiate an attack, we shut our

pumps down and maneuvered out of the way," Haistings said.

The monitors on Engine 1 can fire a stream of water or foam mixed

with water at 2,000 gallons a minute.

But when the new vessel steamed over to the burning hydroplane and

the switch was thrown to start pouring water on the blaze, Engine 1

failed to perform. The stream that came out was little more than a

trickle.

The crew was horrified.

"I probably took it the hardest, 'cause I didn't expect it," Chester said.

With the hydro still in flames, the police boat Patrol 4 took over the

attack, blasting the burning vessel with foam from one of its monitors.

Meanwhile, the crew aboard Engine 1 was frantically trying to figure

out what went wrong.

The problem turned out to be air. The monitors on the fireboat, which

look like large water guns, suck water in through pumps in the engine

room. The water for those pumps is kept in two chambers called "sea

chests," basically square holes in the hull covered with an airtight metal

box.

Churn from the boat's powerful jet motors aerated the water going into

the sea chests, so when the pumps wanted to suck in water, all they got

was air, Chester said.

He ended up having to crawl into the engine compartment and manually

pop the lids of the sea chests to release all the air that had become

trapped in there.

"Then, boom, we had it," he said.

But by then, Patrol 4 and the Chief Seattle had succeeded in putting out

the fire.

Engine 1 has been out of commission since the fire.

Friday, Chester was busy installing valves in the sea chests that will

allow air trapped in them to escape.

The crews tested the boat over the weekend and made sure the

modification worked.

Chester is confident the alterations will continue to work, but it will be

some time before the crews forget the Seafair debacle.

"We were all kind of down 'cause of what happened," he said.

Still, the engineer has not lost faith in the department's newest vessel.

"It's a great boat, once we get the bugs worked out," he said.

 

[topfuel443]

man,.... that sucks

~James

 

[Roxyflash]

Just like anything new some are good some are bad usually it takes some time to work out the bugs but in this situation wasnt good.I feal sorry for both the boats owners and the rescue team.Main thing is the driver is ok.