BALCONY FIRE on the Carnival Sunshine

Posted on 09/02/2016

Last Friday evening a stateroom balcony on the Carnival Sunshine sustained smoke damage after a fire was started in a cabin on deck 6. It is speculated that the fire was started when a smoker flicked a cigarette butt.

"A small fire occurred yesterday evening on a passenger cabin balcony on Carnival Sunshine. The specific location of origin appears to have been a towel on a balcony chair. The fire was quickly extinguished. Guests were advised of the Cruise Ship Balconies - Fire detection, Alarm and Suppression System situation and all operations on board continued per normal," Carnival said in the statement.
Carnival bans smoking on cruise ship balconies.
In 2006 a passenger died on the Star Princess in a fire that swept through a hundred cabins after a cigarette was flicked and a towel caught fire on a balcony.
SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) established regulations a year after the fire mandating pressure water-spraying systems and fixed fire detection and alarm devices when furniture on a ship balcony is flammable.