Inspector General: Coast Guard Cutters' Fire Systems Went Off on Their Own at Least 22 Times, So the Automatic Feature Was Switched Off
Fire suppression systems on the Coast Guard's Fast Response Cutters, the patrol boats it uses to secure U.S. borders and maritime approaches, "randomly discharged a firefighting agent into the engine room at least 22 times" between 2017 and 2023, according to a Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report.
The discharges caused "a loss of propulsion for affected vessels," the report says. The Coast Guard's fix was to switch off the systems' automatic feature, a workaround the inspector general says "increased the safety risk for crews in the event of engine fires."
The audit, report OIG-26-32, dated Sept. 28, 2026, also found that "nearly one-third of the fleet was not fully mission capable at any given time" from fiscal years 2023 to 2025, and that the Coast Guard deferred required maintenance to manage funding shortfalls.
What the Inspector General Found on the Coast Guard Cutters
"FRC fire suppression systems did not meet basic fire safety standards," the report states, using the abbreviation for Fast Response Cutters.
Citing an April 2023 Coast Guard engineering advisory, the report says "9 FRCs have encountered fire suppression system failures since 2017." When the system goes off, "ventilation to the engine room is shut off, fuel valves close, and the engines turn off, causing the ship to lose propulsion," and "crews are unable to restart the engine" until the faults are cleared. The advisory traced the root cause to "environmental degradation of system components due to moisture buildup in the remote station box."
The workaround, according to the report, "directed crews to disable the automatic feature of the fire suppression system by disconnecting its electrodes and securing the discharge pin with a zip tie."
That also disabled the controls on the pilothouse panel. "Instead, if an FRC were to experience an engine fire, a Coast Guardsman would need to walk to the back of the ship and climb down a hatch to manually discharge the fire suppression system," the report says. "These extra steps would delay immediate release of the firefighting agent."
"The Coast Guard's inability to resolve FRC fire suppression system failures could also lead to injury or death," the inspector general concluded.
The Coast Guard estimates that fixing the problem across the fleet "will cost $40 million, but it has yet to identify or validate a solution," the report says. As of fiscal year 2025, the Coast Guard "has not included a fire suppression system replacement in its formal budget request," and according to the Coast Guard, "at best this effort would be designated as a Tier II project, which has a low likelihood of being funded."
Far Below the 85 Percent Readiness Requirement
The report says the 52 cutters reviewed "averaged 72 percent operational availability and none of the eight districts with FRCs met the Coast Guard's 85 percent operational availability requirement." In fiscal year 2024, "only 25 percent (13 of 52) of the FRCs met minimal availability requirements."
The Coast Guard cutters serve 7 of the service's 11 statutory mission areas, including drug interdiction, migrant interdiction, search and rescue, and ports, waterways and coastal security.
The inspector general said the Coast Guard does not keep data on which missions went undone. But in one case, "a Coast Guard FRC crew in the Southeast District reported being unable to complete an interdiction for suspected drugs and/or migrants as their FRC broke down mid-pursuit, allowing the suspected vessel to escape."
Deferred Maintenance and Funding Shortfalls
According to the report, cutter fleet funding shortfalls grew "from $219 million in FY 2022 to $486 million in FY 2025." As of June 17, 2025, crews had reported "more than 9,000 maintenance requests for the FRC fleet that were overdue or that had been granted an extension by Headquarters."
The inspector general also found that the program's updated life cycle cost estimate "reduced projections for these expenses from $9.9 billion in 2021 to $9.2 billion in 2023," which it said "conflicted with actual cost increases."
The report notes that in July 2025 the Coast Guard "received $24.5 billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to procure new operational assets and systems and maintain existing assets and systems, such as the FRCs," and that in September 2025 it exercised a $507 million contract option, raising its order from 67 to 77 cutters.
What the Coast Guard Said
"The Coast Guard concurred with all three recommendations," the report says. The recommendations call on the Coast Guard to update its cost estimate, plan for the deferred maintenance and "take action to repair or replace the faulty fire suppression system."
In its response, the Coast Guard said the 59th cutter, delivered in March 2025, "and all subsequent FRCs will be delivered with different fire alarm panels and upgrades to the fire suppression systems," and that it is retrofitting the first new system on an older cutter. It estimates "the timeline to complete this retrofit fleet-wide will be at least 3 years." The inspector general lists the fire suppression and maintenance recommendations as open and unresolved.
TDFP has asked the U.S. Coast Guard for comment and will update this story.
Sources: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, "Coast Guard: Fast Response Cutter Deficiencies Could Endanger Crew and Limit Mission Effectiveness (REDACTED)," Report No. OIG-26-32, Sept. 28, 2026: https://www.oig.dhs.gov/reports/2026/coast-guard-fast-response-cutter-deficiencies-could-endanger-crew-and-limit-mission-effectiveness-redacted/oig-26-32-sep26-redacted (PDF: https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2026-10/OIG-26-32-Sep26-Redacted.pdf)
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