SS Noronic

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JK
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SS Noronic

Post by JK »

Sept. 17, 1949. The Noronic was docked at Toronto Harbour, with several hundred passengers aboard. Most were from Cleveland or Detroit, but many crewmembers and guests were Canadian.

Within the space of six hours, the entire vessel was “swept from bow to stern and from waterline to mast by fire which roared through it with lightning speed,”
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/0 ... burns.html

The Wikepedia entry has more gruesome details of the fire which was fueled by the polished wooden bulkheads and stairwells.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Noronic
In this there is mention of the arson on the CSL passenger ship Quebec, where a fire was set in the linen locker.

However, it took until 1979 for wooden interior structure to be banned in new ships after the fire on the CARTIERCLIFFE HALL where 7 men lost their lives. Stair towers were required to have releasable fire doors and cabin doors had to be upgraded among other changes. There are still Canadian ships in service that meet the CartiercliffeHall requirement but not the fire structural requirements of the CSA.
Interesting reading here:
http://continuouswave.com/misc/cartiercliffehall.html
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