What happened
On 8 October 2025, around 2340 local time, as the vessel was engaged in an offshore construction operation a fire was detected in the laundry on the main deck. The Chief mate immediately went to the area and, after confirming that the fire was in the laundry, pressed the emergency stop button for the laundry equipment.
The fire alarm was raised and, in accordance with procedures, the vessel was stopped and the ongoing operation ceased. The crew were mustered and firefighting teams were dispatched to the laundry.
The fire was sourced to a faulty clothes dryer (Figure 1) and subsequently extinguished.
The likely cause of the fire was determined to be overheating of an electrical component of the dryer, most probably the transformer.
Figure 1: Fire damage to dryer
Source: Vessel operator
Safety message
Clothes dryer fires are common and can pose a serious safety hazard, especially on a ship. Various sources indicate that most dryer fires are caused by:
- spontaneous combustion of residual soils, paint, oils, etc.
- leaving dried materials unattended in the dryer
- not cooling down dryer loads
- improper cleaning of lint filters
- overloading the dryer, which restricts airflow.
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has published several Safety flashes in regard to dryer fires and outlined valuable lessons learned and preventative measures, including:
- Confirming that everyone understands that they should raise the alarm before attempting to tackle a fire.
- Ensuring systems for fire prevention, detection, protection and extinguishing, are communicated to all crew during vessel inductions and regularly reinforced thereafter.
- Ensuring that the design of the tumble dryer filters, drums and exhaust ducting enable sufficient access to allow for cleaning and removal of build-up of material.
- Ensuring all personnel are familiar with operations, maintenance and emergency procedures for equipment and machinery they are operating.
About this report
Decisions regarding whether to conduct an investigation, and the scope of an investigation, are based on many factors, including the level of safety benefit likely to be obtained from an investigation. For this occurrence, no investigation has been conducted and the ATSB did not verify the accuracy of the information. A brief description has been written using information supplied in the notification and any follow-up information in order to produce a short summary report, and allow for greater industry awareness of potential safety issues and possible safety actions.