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Fire at sea has no fire brigade to call. Chapter II-2 of SOLAS is the convention's answer: a layered regime of prevention, containment, detection, and extinction so that a fire is stopped, or at least held within one zone, by the ship and its own crew. It is the highest-fatality regulatory domain in shipping, and almost every fire-safety item a seafarer checks — extinguishers, fixed systems, fire doors, the muster list — traces back to this chapter and its two mandatory sub-codes, the Fire Safety Systems (FSS) Code and the Fire Test Procedures (FTP) Code.
Chapter II-2 is built around functional requirements grouped into parts: A (general and fire-safety objectives), B (prevention of fire and explosion), C (suppression of fire), D (escape), E (operational requirements), F (alternative design), and G (special requirements — vehicle, ro-ro, special-category and cargo spaces, and helicopter facilities). It applies differently to passenger ships, cargo ships, and tankers.
The first defence is keeping ignition sources and combustibles apart. Part B controls fuel-oil and lubricating-oil arrangements (high-pressure fuel lines jacketed and screened, hot surfaces shielded below auto-ignition temperature), restricts combustible materials in construction, and — for tankers — mandates inert gas systems and cargo-tank venting to prevent an explosive atmosphere. Hot-work control (welding, cutting) and gas-freeing precautions are the operational face of this part.
Ships are divided into main vertical and horizontal zones by fire-rated boundaries — the A / B / C class divisions — so a fire is contained. Suppression layers include: a fire main with pumps (a main pump and an independent emergency fire pump), hydrants, hoses and nozzles; fixed fire-extinguishing systems for machinery and cargo spaces (CO2, foam, water-mist or water-spray); galley duct and deep-fat-fryer protection; portable and semi-portable extinguishers; and firefighter's outfits with breathing apparatus. Fixed-system controls, quantities, and release alarms must be maintained and understood — a wrongly-isolated CO2 system is a classic detention finding.
Fixed fire-detection and fire-alarm systems, plus manual call points, give early warning; sample- extraction smoke detection is used in some cargo spaces. Part D requires at least two means of escape from every space, kept clear, with low-location lighting or photoluminescent marking on passenger ships, and emergency escape breathing devices (EEBDs) staged for rapid egress.
Part E is where the crew lives: a fire safety operational booklet and training manual, fire control plans permanently displayed and stowed in a weathertight enclosure outside the deckhouse for shore firefighters, regular fire patrols on passenger ships, scheduled maintenance and testing of all appliances, and monthly fire drills covering different scenarios. Muster lists and emergency instructions tie the equipment to the people.
They are fire-integrity ratings for bulkheads and decks. 'A' class divisions are steel, insulated so the unexposed side stays below defined temperature limits for 60, 30, 15 or 0 minutes (A-60, A-30, A-15, A-0) and are smoke- and flame-tight for one hour. 'B' class are non-combustible divisions rated for 15 or 0 minutes (B-15, B-0). 'C' class are simply non-combustible with no integrity time. Accommodation and machinery boundaries are built up from these ratings.
An inert gas (IG) system fills cargo tanks with gas low enough in oxygen (typically below 8% by volume) that the hydrocarbon atmosphere cannot ignite. SOLAS II-2 requires IG on oil, chemical and gas tankers above defined sizes. It is one of the single most important fire- and explosion-prevention measures on tankers, which is why IG alarms, oxygen readings, and tank-atmosphere records are watch-critical.
SOLAS III/19 requires each crew member to take part in at least one fire drill every month (and within 24 hours of leaving port if more than 25% of the crew changed and have not drilled onboard in the previous month). Fire patrols, maintenance of appliances, and the training manual all sit under Chapter II-2 Part E's operational requirements.