Make a Fire Escape Plan for Your Boat: Exits, Extinguishers, Roles and Shutoffs

A top-down sketch is fine. Mark:

• Every cabin, berth, head, galley and the engine space.
• Every hatch, door, companionway and the cockpit.
• Where each extinguisher is, plus the manual pull for any fixed engine-room system.
• The battery switch, fuel shutoff, propane solenoid switch and tank valve, and shore-power breaker.
• Life jackets, the grab bag and the handheld VHF.

Post a copy where guests will see it, such as inside the companionway or near the helm. BoatUS recommends posting the extinguisher diagram in prominent places.

For each cabin and berth, find a main exit and a second exit if the first is blocked by fire or smoke. On most cabin boats, the second way out is a deck hatch.

On a center console or open boat there's no cabin to escape from, but think about where you'd go: usually forward and into the water upwind with a life jacket on. The BoatUS Foundation's small open-boat test showed there's truly nowhere to hide on a small boat.

This is the step most owners skip. The BoatUS surveyor's questions:

• Is the forward hatch big enough for each adult aboard to fit through?
• Can it be opened from inside, quickly, by someone half asleep? Are the latches stiff or painted over?
• Can it open with the dinghy, a paddleboard, or a pile of fenders stored on top of it?

Have each person actually climb out of their sleeping cabin through the second exit. If someone can't reach the hatch, add a sturdy step or handhold. Keep the deck above escape hatches clear when people are sleeping aboard.

BoatUS recommends smoke alarms in sleeping and cooking areas and in engine spaces, especially if anyone sleeps aboard. There are no UL-Marine listed smoke alarms; BoatUS suggests RV-rated units as a good second choice and says household units need monthly testing and replacement every couple of years. Some marine heat alarms can sound at the helm. See smoke and heat detectors, and add a CO alarm too (CO detector safety).

Have at least the number the Coast Guard requires, and more is better. For boats up to 65 feet, the federal rule (33 CFR 175.320) sets the minimum in 5-B extinguishers: one for boats under 26 feet, two for 26 to under 40 feet, and three for 40 to 65 feet, with one fewer required if the engine space has a fixed extinguishing system (boats under 26 feet with a fixed system need none). One 20-B unit can stand in for two 5-B units. The minimum is about what's legal, not what's smart for a fire plan: it doesn't tell you where to put them. BoatUS's surveyor often sees boats with enough extinguishers all mounted below, where a galley fire would cut them off from the helm. Place them:

• Near the galley, but not where you'd have to reach over the stove to grab one.
• Near the engine compartment.
• In or near each living and sleeping space.
• At the helm or in the cockpit, where the skipper can grab one the second a fire is spotted.

They must be easy to see and reach, not buried in a locker. See fire extinguisher care.

In a fire you'll want to cut off what's feeding it. Label and show everyone:

• Engine: how to stop it (key, stop button, kill-switch lanyard). BoatUS notes a running engine can pump extinguishing agent out of the engine space and keep feeding the fire air and fuel.
• Fuel: the fuel shutoff valve, if your boat has one.
• Propane: the solenoid switch and the tank valve. The BoatUS surveyor asks whether you can reach the stove's remote shutoff without reaching over the flames. See propane system safety.
• Electrical: the main battery switch and the shore-power breaker. See battery switches.

The natural first reaction, opening the hatch to look, is the worst one: it feeds the fire oxygen. Instead:

• Shut down the engine.
• Discharge an extinguisher through the fire port if you have one, or pull the manual handle of a fixed system.
• Keep the hatch closed.

See engine room fire systems if your boat has neither.

Each regular crew member should know their job without being told:

• Skipper: stops the boat, shuts down the engine, decides fight or leave.
• Radio: sends the DSC alert and Mayday with position, boat name and number of people. A waterproof handheld VHF matters here: the BoatUS Foundation notes the installed radio may lose power or be cut off by the fire.
• Extinguisher: grabs the nearest one and fights the fire if it's small. Pull the pin, aim at the base, squeeze, sweep.
• Life jackets and people: makes sure everyone, especially kids, puts one on and heads to the meeting point.

With two aboard, combine roles. Make sure at least one other person can do every job if the skipper is hurt.

Choose where everyone gathers: usually the bow or the cockpit, whichever is upwind and away from the engine. If you have to leave:

• Everyone wears a life jacket.
• Take the grab bag (handheld VHF, phone in a pouch, PLB, signaling devices).
• Get off on the side away from the fire and swim or drift upwind so smoke and burning fuel blow away from you.
• Stay together.

At a marina, BoatUS's advice is simpler: if one or two extinguishers don't put it out, get everyone off, call 911, and let firefighters handle it.

The BoatUS Foundation found a five-minute guest briefing improves fire safety. Show guests the extinguishers, how to use the radio, where life jackets are and how to shut off the electrical system. Overnight guests also need to see their cabin's second exit and how its hatch opens.

At the dock, with the engine off:

1. Call out "Fire in the galley!" (or the engine room, or a cabin).
2. Time the crew as they do their jobs: radio call practiced with the mic unkeyed, extinguisher handled but not discharged, life jackets on, shutoffs touched.
3. Have the people in the sleeping cabin get out through the second exit.
4. Repeat once at night with only flashlights.

Never send a real Mayday or DSC alert during practice. If you have an old extinguisher due for replacement, use it for a real practice discharge on shore, away from the boat.

Talk for five minutes: what was hard to reach, which hatch stuck, who froze. Fix it, update the map, and note the date in BoatMend. Repeat the drill at the start of each season and when new crew join.