Entry & progression
Certificate: STCW Advanced Fire Fighting (A-VI/3) — for those who control firefighting operations aboard ship. Builds on STCW basic Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting. Entry: STCW basic FPFF. Revalidation: refresher training required (typically every 5 years).
Understanding and attacking fire
Fire needs heat, fuel and oxygen — the fire triangle — plus the chemical chain reaction that sustains it, and removing any one element extinguishes it: cooling removes heat, starving removes fuel, and smothering removes oxygen. Advanced firefighting adds command to this: assessing the fire and its likely spread, planning the attack, choosing the extinguishing medium for the class of fire, deploying the teams and equipment, and controlling the boundaries so the fire cannot spread through bulkheads and decks. The person in charge does not fight the fire themselves but directs the whole operation.
- Classify the fire and choose the correct extinguishing medium for it.
- Plan the attack: the entry, the hose management, the ventilation and the boundary cooling.
- Organise the breathing-apparatus teams with control, timing and communications.
- Coordinate with the bridge, the engine room and the whole-ship emergency organisation.
WARNING — Boundary cooling stops the spread Fighting the seat of the fire is only half the job. Cooling the boundaries — the bulkheads and decks around the fire — stops it spreading through the structure into adjacent spaces, which is how a contained fire becomes a ship-wide one.
NOTE — The commander directs, not fights The person controlling the operation stays out of the fire and directs it: assessing, planning, deploying teams, and coordinating with the bridge. A commander who joins the hose loses the overview the operation depends on.