Jensen Hughes

JENSEN HUGHES provides fire protection design, research, and development services for military and commercial marine clients.

The company has extensive experience in fire suppression, material flammability, structural fire resistance, firefighting training, and fire hazard and risk assessment.

Fire investigations and forensic services for marine vessels

JENSEN HUGHES understands the unique characteristics of marine vessel construction and fire protection systems, and is uniquely qualified to provide forensic and scientific support for fires on marine vessels.

The company is experienced in carrying out fire investigations (origin and cause) for cruise ships, private vessels (cruisers, sailboats, luxury yachts and large tanker vessels), and ship / boat yards, including high-rack pleasure boats (boatels).

JENSEN HUGHES's services include performance-based ship fire protection and life safety design, fire investigations (origin and cause), fire detection (sport and video-based), and smoke management.

JENSEN HUGHES has extensive experience in conducting research and development in all areas of marine fire protection, and has developed the fire and smoke simulator model (FSSIM).

JENSEN HUGHES has conducted fire protection analysis to determine existing water supply requirements found in applicable sections of the Internatonal Freight Corporation (IFC).

Emergency evacuation, egress analysis, and new ferry design services were provided for the new WSF 130 Auto Ferry. This was a re-design effort for the original 130 Auto Ferry.

The company assisted in resolving fire safety issues, including fire load calculations and materials problems, for the new Staten Island Ferry Vessel Class.

The IMO allows the company's experts to create more performance-based designs, perform ship-wide fire hazard analyses, and develop cost-effective fire protection alternatives and trade-offs.

Fire protection engineering and professional services were provided for the San Francisco Port. The initial project was for the design of a Class II standpipe system for Piers 28 and 33. The design was based on a code deficiency correction noted by the San Francisco Fire Department.

Carnival Cruise Lines installed a new passenger terminal at the Spruce Goose dome in Long Beach, California. JENSEN HUGHES examined modelling and other hazard analysis work.

Our engineers are uniquely qualified to provide forensic and scientific support regarding fires on marine vessels.

The company supplied fire protection engineering services to the Marina Bay Cruise Centre in Singapore, which consists of a three-storey development to facilitate the boarding and alighting of cruise ship passengers.

Performance-based designs for fire protection

Larger cruise liners have presented unique fire protection challenges. Specifically, newer cruise ships represent floating high-rise buildings with five-deck mezzanines running through the centre.

The demand for larger, faster and more luxurious ships have made legacy prescriptive type codes obsolete. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) recognises these deficiencies, and is now allowing more performance-based designs in comparison to the legacy prescriptive approach.

JENSEN HUGHES has experience in developing cost-effective fire protection alternatives and trade-offs to keep up with new industry-related technologies.

Fire hazard analysis services

The company offers shipwide fire hazard analysis (FHA) services for a range of vessels.

FHAs include assessments of the fuel loadings, potential ignition sources, and active and passive fire protection systems and techniques deployed on ships.

JENSEN HUGHES also identifies high risk areas / spaces, where additional precautions need to be implemented. These areas include pyrotechnics storage areas for celebrations and theatres, as well as storage areas for weather deck plastic furniture and cushions on cruise ships, and machinery spaces / fuel storage tanks and ordinance on US Coast Guard and Navy vessels.

Deficiencies in a number of installed systems were also identified and remedied.

FHAs have been previously performed on Crystal Cruise Lines Fleet, the US Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter (Legend Class), and the US Navy’s joint high-speed vessel (JHSV).

Fire protection research and development

The company’s R&D personnel have extensive experience conducting research and development in all areas of marine fire protection, and have developed the fire and smoke simulator model (FSSIM) for predicting fires on ships.

JENSEN HUGHES’s FSSIM has been successfully applied to predict fire and smoke spread for aircraft carriers, troop transports, destroyers, cruisers, and other naval vessels.

Development of approved fire protection standards

JENSEN HUGHES’s experts have been advisers to the US Delegation of the IMO subcommittee on Fire Protection since the early 1990s, making major contributions to the development of standards for shipboard fire protection.

In 2003, the company was awarded the prestigious Royal Institution of Naval Architects Lloyd’s Register Safer Ship Award.

JENSEN HUGHES’s research into water mist and gaseous fire protection technologies lead directly to current IMO test methods and Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations.