Fire is the third biggest major ship incident, behind collisions and groundings, and costs as many lives as man-overboard, enclosed space accidents and lifeboat incidents. As “The Case of the Tongues of Fire”, the latest episode in the Maritime Accident Casebook (MAC) series of podcasts, communications and knowhow are vital elements in effective firefighting but leadership and discipline can reduce the chance of it happening in the first place.

The Case of the Tongues of Fire tells the story of the fire aboard the Maersk Doha in 2006. Putting water on the fire, inside the casing of the vessel's exhaust gas economiser actually made the fire hotter. One by one, emergency equipment failed and firefighting procedures proved ineffective. Like all MAC podcasts, The Case of the Tongues of Fire reveals the circumstance around a real event through an audio podcast and online materials available for free at the Maritime Accident Casebook website, www.maritimeaccident.org.

As with the preceding episodes, each podcast is backed by an illustrated online transcript that seafarers can read, discuss and share with their crewmates and other seafarers. Those with training and safety responsibilities can use the broadcasts and the transcripts freely. The Case of the Tongues of Fire is the thirteenth and final episode in the first series of Bob Couttie's Maritime Accident Casebook. Series Two begins in January 2008. Earlier episodes deal with pilotage, fatigue, over-reliance on electronic navigation, lifeboat safety, safe anchoring in typhoons, heavy equipment safety and entry into enclosed spaces.