Safety first priority, ferry union says Norman Gidney, Times Colonist
The union highlighted safety in a report last month on firefighting equipment on the ferries, claiming much of it is outdated, with corroded pipes, and subject to failure.
The union report was prompted by an engine-room fire aboard the Queen of Surrey on May 12 last year, just after it sailed from Horseshoe Bay terminal for Langdale on the Sunshine Coast.
The blaze was caused by a cracked high-pressure fuel line spraying diesel onto the engine's hot exhaust manifold.
A massive release of carbon dioxide into the engine room smothered the fire. But in the process, connections from the CO2 bottles to the main supply line ruptured, according to the internal report by a three-member panel of employees at B.C. Ferry Services Inc.