Emergency Contact Vehicle Carrier Safety Forum publishes guidance on fire response Home Latest updates News Vehicle Carrier Safety Forum publishes guidance on fire response 22 Apr 2025 View PDF Sign up for alerts On 15 April 2025, the Vehicle Carrier Safety Forum (VCSF) published its second industry good practice guidelines entitled ‘ Fire Response – High Level Guidelines ’. The VCSF recognises that responding to vehicle fires onboard PCCs, PCTCs, RoRo and Ro-Pax vessels is both dangerous and challenging. These guidelines have been designed to reduce the risk to the safety of crews, passengers, the environment, the vessel and the cargo. The guideline’s sole aim is to assist vessel operators and crews to be better prepared to meet the challenges presented by vehicle fires. The Vehicle Carrier Safety Forum is a consortium of vessel operators, insurers and other industry experts, whose role is to promote safety on vessels designed to carry vehicles. The guidance is supported by industry bodies the International Group of P&I Clubs, the International Chamber of Shipping and the TT Club. The guidelines are intended to be used by vessel operators when considering their own fire response policies and procedures with a particular emphasis on using existing fixed firefighting systems to control vehicle fires early in their development. Geir Jorgensen , Chair of the IG P&I Ships’ Technical Committee, is a strong supporter of the guidelines; “ These guidelines are the result of industry collaboration focused on safety. We all share a common goal of making life at sea safer, and these guidelines should be viewed as a valuable tool for operators to develop their own instructions as part of their safety management system .” Philip Bacon, Vice President Commercial Operations of Siem Shipping, who is part of the VCSF Steering Committee says “ the guidance reflects a range of views and best practices which we are seeing develop in the sector and offer a framework within which