Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[Wookie]

What about mechanical (protein) foam? It tastes bad but I'm pretty sure it's made of organic substances

Cows blood and hoofs.

 

[Hiszpan]

This is the official T-Boat inspection checklist for your perusal. And it’s exactly as you say, the inspecting officer (and 2 or 3 minions) shows up. The crew goes with the minions and the master stays with the officer.
https://homeport.uscg.mil/Lists/Content/Attachments/1150/CG-840 2011_2.pdf

I wonder if point 9.15 is on the checklist for LOBs...

9.3 - specifies smoke detector in overnight passenger areas

9.1 - fire detector wouldn't have to be required in the galley area on Conception? None of those points apply,maybe only last one "enlosed space", but that could be argued if the doors are always kept open...

11.8 - was that fitted on Conception?

Task 15: Abandon Ship Drill and other points about fire or emergency - I don't see there any requirements to simulate passengers at full capacity evacuating through emergency exits with PFDs donned.

Not sure how this particual list applies to Conception type boat, but all those things discussed so far in this tread make this checklist look like it could do with a little upgrade.

 

[Wookie]

Excellent references. It's not my boat though, however it's great advice for other boat owners or the rest of Truth Aquatics' fleet.

If you're "Grandfathered" but make a change to the boat - such as redesigning the exit hatch, do you then lose your grandfathering and have to obey new and current regulations? Not to say that their designs don't meet current regulations, seems they probably did. Let's just say perhaps that modern conventions might prefer a more rapid evacuation strategy.

No. You only lose grandfathering if you lose or surrender your COI for some reason, like going overseas. If you reflag your vessel then want to bring it back, you must come back under new regulations.

The coast guard is always happy for you to upgrade voluntarily, of course.

 

[Wookie]

While neither a marine engineer or naval architect, I did spend last night at a Holiday Inn....Seeing that there were no portholes in the berth deck, yet assuming that at least part of it was above the waterline, would it be practicable to create an escape hatch in the hull [above the water line] that operated through a system of explosive bolts that could only be activated [manually] when a fire suppression system or fire alarm were activated? The hatch could be built flush with the exterior of the hull, with a reinforced interior frame, and would be an escape hatch of last resort.

That would violate the stability requirements of the vessel. There can be no openings or windows below the knuckle unless hydraulically actuated and open in and only in port, etc.

 

[tarponchik]

yet they awoke to raging inferno, ceiling tiles already burning so it's flashed over, and their ladder from wheel house/sun bridge which is outside of the galley/salon enclosed area is fully engulfed.

So the ceiling tiles were made of combustible material, and the ladder too?

 

[Wookie]

I wonder if point 9.15 is on the checklist for LOBs...

9.3 - specifies smoke detector in overnight passenger areas

9.1 - fire detector wouldn't have to be required in the galley area on Conception? None of those points apply,maybe only last one "enlosed space", but that could be argued if the doors are always kept open...

11.8 - was that fitted on Conception?

Task 15: Abandon Ship Drill and other points about fire or emergency - I don't see there any requirements to simulate passengers at full capacity evacuating through emergency exits with PFDs donned.

Not sure how this particual list applies to Conception type boat, but all those things discussed so far in this tread make this checklist look like it could do with a little upgrade.

The point is that the checklist is what the boat was inspected to.

 

[Wookie]

So the ceiling tiles were made of combustible material, and the ladder too?

Everything is combustible if you get it hot enough. The term you’re looking for is fire retardant, and there is only a standard for the hull material, not the furnishings and fitting out.

 

[edm81363]

evacuating through emergency exits with PFDs donned.

NEVER put on a flotation device INSIDE a vessel!!! If there were water ingress, you will be pinned to the ceiling and unable to exit. Carry your PFD with you until outside. This also applies to Immersion Suits.

Besides, I've read that the PFD's were stored under the benches in the salon. (A Type 1 SOLAS PFD is quite bulky.)

 

[tarponchik]

Everything is combustible if you get it hot enough. The term you’re looking for is fire retardant, and there is only a standard for the hull material, not the furnishings and fitting out.

I've asked cause in the Truth Aquatics video there are no tiles of any kind and the ladders look like metal. There is some plastic interior but this is the kind of plastic that burns poorly. Couple of wooden rails are unlikely candidates to cause an inferno. The only thing in the video that looks alarming is the soft bench (faux vinyl?), probably stuffed with some flammable stuff.

 

[KevinNM]

So the ceiling tiles were made of combustible material, and the ladder too?

Everything burns or disintegrates in a furnace, which is what they were looking into. Temperatures reach up to 1100 degrees in that kind of fire. Aluminum melts, kevlar melts, nomex melts, the structural fiberglass burns. Unless the entire interior is made of stainless steel it's going to fall apart and burn. If it's made of stainless steel it will just melt through the bottom of the boat, because a fiberglass hull is burnable plastic.