Digital Extra

The Scandia, said Lt. Keith Ward, had enough carbon dioxide on board as part of its firefighting system to snuff out flames around the engine room, the general area where the fire is believed to have started.

But because of the smoke and intense heat, Ward said, crew members were unable to reach the system's activation switch, located in an area above the engine room known as the fiddly space.

The crew's inability to activate the system may have played a major role in the subsequent disaster, Ward said.

Consequently, he said, "it's certainly possible" that as part of the investigation's findings he may recommend that tugs such as the Scandia be required to be equipped with automatic fire-suppression systems.

Ward's comments came as the Coast Guard investigation into the North Cape oil spill ended its first phase yesterday.

So far the Coast Guard has interviewed all six Scandia crew members, the Coast Guardsmen who were first on the scene of the burning tug and an employee of the tug's owner, Eklof Marine, who is familiar with the vessel's maintenance plan.

Based on those interviews, Ward said, investigators believe the fire began in the tug's engine room or in the fiddly space above -- a deck separated from the engine room below by a metal grill floor. Much of the tug's electronic gear was located in the fiddly space, Ward said.

Two crew members were on watch at the time of the fire, Ward said.

Those two men, including the tug's chief engineer, told investigators of seeing smoke "pouring out" of the engine room and fiddly space. They saw the glow of flames, too, but could not pinpoint the fire's location.

Investigators have ruled out the galley, said Ward, because the crew was fighting the blaze from there with portable extinguishers.

The boat's fire-suppression system included a television-like monitor. Ward said one crew member reported seeing on the monitor a reading: "Fire in the upper engine room" -- the fiddly space. But that detail was not confirmed by other crew members.

The second phase of the investigation is scheduled to begin today when investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board, the Coast Guard and officials of Eklof Marine are to accompany "forensic fire experts" aboard the Scandia.

Those experts, Ward said, "can determine where the fire was burning hotter than somewhere else" and, it is hoped, determine the fire's origin.

The continuing investigation has also confirmed, Ward said, that the barge's anchor was shackled down as well as secured with rope and wire.

But Ward said that was not a violation of any shipping standards since unmanned barges like the North Cape aren't even required to have an anchor.

"An unmanned tank barge is not required to have an anchor because there is no one aboard them to deploy it," Ward said.

Ward said the two crew members who had returned to the drifting barge last Friday in an effort to anchor it showed great bravery.

Their futile efforts to free the anchor, Ward said, were compounded by crashing waves and the clumsy gloves of their survival suits, which made the difficult work of unshackling the anchor impossible.

"It was so bad out there," Ward said, "one guy was working on the anchor while the other guy was watching the waves and telling him when to hold on."