Marine Firefighting Program

This program is the written, auditable system for every member who goes onto the water in a department vessel or onto a vessel to fight fire. Drowning is the leading cause of death in fireboat and shore operations, and the usual case is a crew member in the water without flotation (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-2, GN 6-48). When this program is working, every member on board or within 3 m of the water’s edge is wearing a Canadian-approved flotation device sized for them and their clothing; every vessel leaves the dock with a qualified operator, a crew count, a pre-departure check and a stated limit for wind, sea and darkness; every fire on a vessel is fought under unified command with the master or the port, with the fixed CO2 system locked out before anyone goes below, with a stability check before monitors flow, and with no hold entered except under confined-space rules; every crew has practised recovering a person from cold water in the last 12 months; and every near miss on the water is reported, reviewed and fed back to the people who crew the boat. The program is owned by a line officer through the Marine Program Improvement Team, verified by the health and safety officer and consulted on by the JOHSC.

This is a conditional module. It is switched on when the department answers yes to Program Profile Worksheet Part B “Does the department operate vessels for firefighting or rescue?” and records module 28 in Part C as Required or Conditional (01 Program Profile Worksheet). A department that operates no vessel but responds to fires on vessels at berth switches on only elements 5.6 to 5.8 (shipboard firefighting from the shore side) and records that decision. A department that operates a rescue boat but never fights fire from it runs the vessel elements of this program (5.1 to 5.5) alongside Water, Ice and Swiftwater Rescue Program, which owns surface-water rescue skills. Where both programs apply, the Marine team and the Water and Ice team hold the joint session required by 06 Program Improvement Teams section 6.4.

Consistent with 06 Glossary and Acronyms.

• Fire control plan: the vessel’s own drawing set showing fixed systems, fire boundaries, access and hazards, kept on board for responders (NFPA 1405, 2021).
• Fixed system lockout: the master’s confirmed isolation of an installed gaseous or other suppression system so it cannot discharge while crews are in the protected space.
• Flotation device: a personal flotation device or lifejacket carrying a Transport Canada or Canadian Coast Guard approval label (Small Vessel Regulations [CA], 2026).
• Free-surface effect: the loss of stability caused by water moving freely across a deck or hold, which firefighting water creates.
• Immersion suit: a Transport Canada-approved suit that slows heat loss for a person in cold water.
• MED: Marine Emergency Duties, the Transport Canada basic marine safety training; the small-vessel version is Domestic Vessel Safety (DVS) (Marine Personnel Regulations [CA], 2026).
• ROC-M: Restricted Operator Certificate (Maritime), the radio certificate for marine VHF (ISED, n.d.).
• Stability officer: the person under unified command who sets and watches the limit on water applied to a vessel.
• SVOP: Small Vessel Operator Proficiency, the Transport Canada operator certificate for commercial small vessels (Marine Personnel Regulations [CA], 2026).
• Unified command: a single command structure in which the fire department, the master and the port or Coast Guard share incident decisions (NFPA 1550, 2024).
• 1-10-1: the cold-water immersion rule of thumb: about one minute to control breathing, about 10 minutes of useful movement, about one hour before hypothermic unconsciousness (Lifesaving Society, n.d.).

Full citations are in 02 Standards and Law Master Map; the provincial and territorial requirements this program relies on are listed under Jurisdiction requirements below. The department’s own text cites the Transport Canada regulations without edition so that amendments do not strand it.

R = responsible, A = accountable (one per row), C = consulted, I = informed. Generic roles are in 01 Roles and Responsibilities; the team roles in 06 Program Improvement Teams.

Each element states the requirement, the minimum method, the evidence or record, and the stage.

Requirement. The department must have this program in writing with a vessel operations manual for each vessel covering crewing minimums, qualifications, pre-departure checks, limits for wind, sea state, visibility and darkness, navigation and radio procedures, stability limits for monitor use, fuel and range, towing, man overboard, and emergency communications with the Coast Guard and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre. Every vessel is registered or licensed as the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 requires (Canada Shipping Act, 2001 [CA], 2001) and listed in a vessel register with its tonnage, inspection status and equipment schedule. (S1)

Minimum method. Adopt this note; complete toolkit T1 for each vessel; write the limits with the operators in a learning-team session (see Safety Differently below); file the JOHSC consultation record.

Evidence. Signed program; operations manual per vessel; vessel register; JOHSC minutes.

Requirement. Nobody may operate a department vessel without SVOP, MED A3 or DVS, Marine Basic First Aid and, if they use the radio, ROC-M (Marine Personnel Regulations [CA], 2026); (ISED, n.d.). Crew members who are not operators must hold MED A3 or DVS and the department’s cold-water and PFD training. Anyone who fights fire from the vessel or boards a vessel to fight fire must hold the marine qualification the department adopts from NFPA 1010 (NFPA 1010, 2024, marine chapters), or an equivalent approved by the training division. Operators must log at least {{Minimum Hours}} hours under way in 12 months, including one night run where night operations are permitted, to remain current. (S1 for the Transport Canada certificates; S2 for NFPA 1010)

Minimum method. Toolkit T4 certification matrix kept by the team lead; training division holds the certificates; the operator’s currency is checked from the vessel log quarterly.

Evidence. Certification matrix; certificates; vessel log hours per operator.

Requirement. Every member must wear a Canadian-approved flotation device when under way (Small Vessel Regulations [CA], 2026) and whenever within 3 m of the water’s edge at a dock, shore or ramp (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-2). The device must be rated for the member’s weight and the clothing worn over or under it. Structural firefighting ensembles are not flotation and must not be relied on; a member who will fight fire from the deck wears an inflatable or inherently buoyant flotation device rated for use with that ensemble, with a whistle and a strobe or light, and dons the ensemble on board. In cold water, which in most Canadian waters means most of the year, crew members wear a Transport Canada-approved immersion suit or a dry suit with thermal layers, or the vessel operations manual states why a flotation jacket with thermal protection is adequate for the task and duration (Lifesaving Society, n.d.). Inflatable devices are serviced annually by a qualified technician on the manufacturer’s instructions. (S1)

Minimum method. Toolkit T3 inspection sheet before each shift and after each use; annual service tags on inflatables; sizing recorded per member on the certification matrix.

Evidence. Inspection sheets; service records; issue records.

Requirement. Before every departure, the operator completes a pre-departure check (hull, engines, fuel, bilge, navigation lights, radio check with dispatch or the Coast Guard, safety equipment, charts or plotter, weather and sea state against the manual’s limits), counts the crew, briefs the task and the man-overboard plan, and records the departure in the vessel log. The operator holds the go/no-go decision and may refuse to sail or may return at any time; the incident commander may not override that decision. Crew count is repeated at every change of task and on return, consistent with the accountability requirements of NFPA 1550 (NFPA 1550, 2024). (S1)

Minimum method. Toolkit T1 checklist on a laminated card on the vessel; T2 log fields in the vessel log; a crew board or tag system matched to the department’s accountability system in Emergency Operations Safety Program.

Evidence. Vessel log entries; accountability record.

Requirement. Each vessel is inspected daily or weekly as the operations manual sets, serviced on the manufacturer’s schedule by a qualified mechanic, pump-tested annually, and inspected annually against the marine chapter of NFPA 1910 (NFPA 1910, 2024). Vessels over 15 gross tonnage carry a current Transport Canada inspection certificate (Transport Canada, n.d.-c). Out-of-service criteria are written and the operator has authority to tag the vessel out. Retirement follows condition and the manufacturer’s life, recorded in the vessel register. (S1)

Minimum method. Section 7 table; defect reporting through the fleet process; the annual inspection filed with the vessel register.

Evidence. Inspection and maintenance records; annual pump test; Transport Canada certificate where applicable.

Requirement. The department pre-plans the vessel types and berths it may be called to: ferries, fishing vessels, cargo and tankers, cruise and passenger vessels, pleasure craft marinas, and vessels under repair (NFPA 1405, 2021). Pre-plans record the fire control plan location, fixed suppression systems and their controls, access and egress, shore water supply, dangerous goods likely on board, and who commands. Written agreements with {{Port Authority}}, the Coast Guard and the harbour’s pilots or terminal operators set unified command, who may order crews below deck, who makes stability decisions, and who supplies dewatering. (S1 for berth pre-plans; S2 for agreements)

Minimum method. One pre-plan per vessel type and per terminal in the pre-incident planning system; one agreement per partner reviewed every three years; a joint exercise at least every two years.

Evidence. Pre-plans; signed agreements; exercise records.

Requirement. Fire on a vessel is fought under unified command with the master (or the owner’s representative) and, at a federal port, the port’s emergency authority (NFPA 1405, 2021). Before any crew goes below deck the incident commander confirms: the fire control plan is in hand; the fixed CO2 or other gaseous system is locked out and tagged with the master’s agreement, or the space is confirmed discharged and ventilated; a stability officer (the master, a marine surveyor or the port’s designate) has set a limit for water applied and monitors are not flowed above it; dewatering is arranged; dangerous goods on board are identified from the manifest (Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations [CA], 2026); and the entry is run under SWP - Confined Space Entry and Rescue where the space is a hold, tank, void or machinery space (CSA Z1006:23). Crews work in pairs with a rapid intervention crew and an accountability officer at the gangway (NFPA 1550, 2024). Ventilation is coordinated with the master because a vessel’s structure spreads fire and heat in ways a building does not. (S1)

Minimum method. Toolkit T5 size-up card on the vessel and the first-due apparatus; the master’s decisions logged by the accountability officer.

Evidence. Incident reports; CO2 lockout record; stability log; accountability record.

Requirement. Every crew member knows the 1-10-1 principle (Lifesaving Society, n.d.) and the vessel’s man-overboard procedure. A person in the water is recovered feet first where possible, horizontally when hypothermic, and handed to rehab or EHS under Heat, Cold and Weather Program (CSA Z1010:18). Every crew practises man overboard with a live or weighted dummy recovery at least every 12 months, including from the water with the recovery device fitted to the vessel. (S1)

Minimum method. Drill record per crew per year; recovery device on every vessel; thermal blankets and a re-warming kit on board.

Evidence. Drill records; equipment inventory.

Requirement. The vessel monitors the department tactical channel and marine VHF channel 16 and the working channel the Coast Guard assigns (ISED, n.d.). Dispatch knows the vessel is under way, its crew count and its expected return. A float plan is filed with dispatch for any run beyond the harbour. Navigation lights, AIS where fitted, and the collision regulations apply (Navigation Safety Regulations, 2020 [CA], 2026). Operations at night and in reduced visibility are permitted only within the manual’s limits and only with a current night-qualified operator. (S1)

Minimum method. Radio check in the pre-departure list; float plan field in the vessel log; annual check of channel programming with dispatch.

Evidence. Vessel log; dispatch records.

Requirement. Every immersion, capsize, collision, grounding, equipment failure under way, fall overboard, CO2 or fixed-system event, stability concern, or crew member who could not be accounted for is reported before the end of the shift and triaged under Incident Investigation and Learning Program. Smoke, chemical and heat exposures on a vessel fire are logged as on land. (S1)

Minimum method. The department’s incident and near-miss forms; the team reviews every marine report at its monthly meeting.

Evidence. Reports; team minutes; corrective actions.

(a) Work-as-done. Before any marine procedure or limit is written or changed, the Marine team holds a learning-team session with the operators and crew who actually run the boat (Conklin, 2012; Hollnagel, 2014): how a launch really goes at 0300 with a thin crew; when and why flotation gets unclipped on a hot deck; what the crew does when the wind rises past the number in the manual and the call is still on; how often the pre-departure check is done from memory; what the gangway accountability looks like when the master wants crews below now. The manual’s limits are written from that conversation, so they are limits the crew recognizes and keeps.

(b) Capacity and margins. The work goes right because operators know the water, crews watch each other at the rail, the boat is maintained and the task is briefed (Hollnagel, 2014). That margin erodes with a tired operator, a new crew member nobody has briefed on the boat, cold hands, a vessel with a known defect kept in service for the call, and a chief on the radio pressing for a result. The program protects the margin by giving the operator the go/no-go without appeal, by the currency rule, by the annual service on inflatables, and by the stability officer’s number that monitors may not exceed.

(c) Just culture. A crew member who was found without flotation, an operator who exceeded the wind limit, a crew that went below before the CO2 lockout: these are treated first as information about the conditions that made the action make sense (Dekker, 2016). The learning firewall applies: what is said in learning teams, after-action reviews and near-miss reports is never used for discipline. Conduct concerns (operating impaired, falsifying a log, wilful disregard of a direct safety instruction) go to a separate process run by different people under Policy - Internal Responsibility and Accountability.

(d) Psychological safety. Any member may stop a launch, a monitor flow or an entry by saying so plainly: “Stop. I am not comfortable with the sea state” or “Stop. The CO2 is not confirmed locked out.” The operator or officer acknowledges, acts and asks what the member sees (Edmondson, 1999)DOI. No argument at the rail; the review happens later and the member hears what came of it. Leaders show reporting is safe by cancelling runs themselves when limits are reached, saying so on the radio, and reporting back to the crews each quarter what near misses were raised and what changed.

(e) Learning link. A capsize, a person overboard without recovery within the drill time, a fixed-system discharge with crews inside, or a lost-time injury on the water is a Tier 2 Post-Incident Analysis; a death or critical injury is a Tier 3 Independent Learning Review; every vessel fire, every rough-weather run and every drill is a Tier 1 After-Action Review. The AAR questions: “What did the water, the wind and the vessel do that we did not expect?” “Who was closest to the edge and did we know?” “What would have made it easier to call it off?” Method: Incident Investigation and Learning Program and, for the full tiers, Manual 02 - The Three Tiers and Event Triage.

• SWP - Boat Operations (shared with Water, Ice and Swiftwater Rescue Program; the marine section covers firefighting from the vessel, monitors and stability)

Procedures this program depends on but does not own: SWP - Confined Space Entry and Rescue (holds, tanks and machinery spaces); SWP - Rehabilitation at Incidents and Training (cold-water re-warming); SWP - Hazmat Entry and Decontamination (dangerous goods on board); SWP - Accountability and Personnel Accountability Reports.

Loop test. A crew member reports on Monday that the inflatable flotation devices on the boat inflate too tightly over a bunker coat to allow the arms to move. By end of day the devices are tagged for the deck-firefighting role only without the coat and the crew is told. By Friday the item is in the register with the team lead as owner, the member has had a reply, and the Equipment Standards team has the question. Within the quarter the team has trialled a device rated for use over the ensemble with the people who wear it, a change notice has gone to every station with a boat, and the item is closed with evidence in the quarterly update.

Audit category: Checklist - RPAS, Marine and ARFF (Conditional Modules), marine section. The five questions an auditor asks first:

1. Show me the certification matrix. Who ran the boat in the last 90 days who is not on it with a valid SVOP?
2. Show me the last 10 departures in the vessel log. Where is the pre-departure check, the crew count and the weather against the manual’s limit?
3. Walk me to the dock. Is everyone within 3 m of the edge wearing an approved flotation device?
4. Show me the last man-overboard drill for each crew and the last annual pump test.
5. Show me the pre-plan for the largest vessel type you serve. Where is the CO2 lockout step, the stability limit and the port’s agreement?

For an accredited or candidate agency, the checklist’s marine section also serves as the evidence file for Criterion 5J: the deployment objectives for marine and shipboard incidents (CC 5J.1), the annual program appraisal (CC 5J.2), risk management at the incident (11A.8), accountability at every risk event (11A.12) and the OHS training record (CC 11A.5) (CPSE, 2019). The team’s annual appraisal under 06 Program Improvement Teams section 10 is the appraisal CC 5J.2 asks for.

Fireboat and marine responder deaths and injuries follow a short list (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-2, GN 6-48; NFPA 1405, 2021). A crew member in the water without flotation, often at the dock or during a routine run, drowning before the crew can turn the boat. Cold-water immersion that disables a strong swimmer within minutes (Lifesaving Society, n.d.). A vessel capsized by the reaction force of monitors or by firefighting water sloshing in a hull, the free-surface effect that mariners know and land-based crews do not. Crews below deck when a fixed CO2 system discharged. A night collision with an unlit object. A hold entered as if it were a room, with the atmosphere never tested. Operators holding only a pleasure-craft card. Maintenance deferred because the boat “hardly gets used”. This program answers each: the flotation rule at 3 m, immersion protection and the 1-10-1 drill, the stability officer and the monitor limit, the CO2 lockout before entry, the night and visibility limits with the operator’s go/no-go, confined-space rules for holds, SVOP as the floor, and the annual inspection whether the boat sailed or not.

Stage 1 (Foundation) minimum. This program adopted; every vessel registered and in the register; operations manual with limits for each vessel; every operator with SVOP, MED, first aid and ROC-M; approved flotation for every crew position and the 3 m rule enforced; immersion protection for cold-water months; pre-departure checklist and vessel log in use; annual inspection and pump test done; man-overboard drill done once per crew; shipboard fire pre-plans for the berths most likely to be called; CO2 lockout and stability rules in the SWP; near-miss reporting live.

Cost (people). Operator training of several days per operator for SVOP and MED plus the radio certificate; team lead about half a day a month; mechanic time for the annual service and pump test; crew time for one drill day a year and a shipboard exercise every two years.

Cost (money, order of magnitude; confirm locally). Course fees per operator; approved flotation devices per crew position with annual inflatable service; immersion or dry suits per crew position; recovery device per vessel; annual engine and pump service; Transport Canada inspection fee where applicable; chart and plotter updates. The real Stage 1 cost is usually immersion suits and certified training; put both on the team’s five-year worksheet in year one.

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.

Laminated on the vessel; completed by the operator before every departure; the log entry records “T1 complete”.

Carried on the vessel and the first-due apparatus. The incident commander confirms each line before crews go below (NFPA 1405, 2021).

1. Vessel name, type, tonnage, flag; master or representative located; unified command set.
2. Fire control plan in hand (usually in a tube at the gangway or the bridge).
3. Occupants and crew accounted for; evacuation status.
4. Fixed system (CO2, foam, water mist): discharged, armed or locked out? Lockout confirmed with the master and recorded.
5. Dangerous goods on board: manifest checked; TDG or IMDG classes; location.
6. Stability: who is the stability officer; water applied limit; list and trim watch; dewatering plan.
7. Access and egress: gangway, alternate route, accountability officer posted.
8. Spaces to be entered: hold, tank, void or machinery space is a confined space; atmosphere tested; SWP - Confined Space Entry and Rescue in force.
9. Ventilation plan agreed with the master.
10. Shore water supply and relay; monitors on the vessel within the stability limit.
11. Rapid intervention crew and rehab in place; cold-water recovery device at the gangway.
12. Withdrawal trigger: list beyond the limit, fixed-system uncertainty, structural heat, loss of accountability.

Completed by the team lead within 15 days of quarter end; goes to the program manager, the senior leadership team and the JOHSC.

Copy section 11 into the team’s terms of reference (06 Program Improvement Teams section 12) with the department’s titles from 01 Roles and Responsibilities section 6. The defaults in one line each:

• Owner: program manager, Marine team (line district chief).
• Doer: operators, crew members, company officers, team lead, marine mechanic, training division.
• Verifier: operator every departure; team lead monthly; HSO quarterly sample, dockside observation and one drill a year; JOHSC annual vessel inspection; internal audit annually; independent review every three years.
• Feedback: quarterly update inside 15 days; reply to the member inside five working days; change notices with every change.
• Closure: Corrective Action Register with a priority from P1 to P4 (a P1 the same shift, others inside five working days); escalation by priority as the register’s scale sets; evidence and verifier sign-off to close; monthly to the JOHSC, annually to the fire chief.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada [ISED]. (n.d.). Restricted Operator Certificate (Maritime) [Web page]. https://ised-isde.canada.ca/

Lifesaving Society. (n.d.). Cold water and ice (the 1-10-1 principle) [Web page]. https://www.lifesavingsociety.com/water-safety/cold-water-and-ice.aspx

Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development [MLITSD]. (n.d.). Firefighter guidance notes (Section 21 Advisory Committee; individual notes revised to 2026). https://www.ontario.ca/document/firefighter-guidance-notes

Transport Canada. (n.d.-c). Marine transportation: Vessel inspection, certification and personnel training [Web page]. https://tc.canada.ca/en/marine-transportation