Fighting Fire at Sea

Here is a sensitive subject, especially for a travel agent - Fighting Fires at Sea. Nobody wants to read about that, right? Well I read a very interesting article in the Sun-Sentinel yesterday. It was about how the Resolve Maritime Academy at Port Everglades has been training cruise ship crews and firefighters to battle blazes on board a cruise ship. Apparently this academy is doing a very realistic job of it. But what I found most eye opening was a fact that they pointed out in the article. If you load a cruise ship down with several thousands of gallons of water onto a cruise sip to help extinguish the flame, it will cause some serious listing problems for the captain. I never really thought of that! But it does make logical sense. I never really realized how complicated it could be to handle a fire a sea. It gives me another layer of respect to the firefighters and cruise crews that manage to keep millions of passengers a year safe day in and day out. My hat is off to them!