Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[Tesibria]

The efficacy of the older generation of PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) is highly questionable and their widespread adoption in California (which spread worldwide) is nowconsidered to have been on misleading and erroneous testimony.
As a toxicologist I can tell you that these flame retardants have caused widespread sperm count reductions, immune system problems and a whole host of other issues in people and wildlife.
Here's just some on the mountain of literature on the adverse effects of PBDEs.
https://www.nap.edu/read/24758/chapter/6
The TRIS generation flame retardants are also problematic but the literature about that is less complete. Ditto the PFAS compounds. In another 15 or 20 years a fuller understanding of their hazards is likely to develop.

Thank you! !! Very helpful!

I'm also very interested in what firefighting experts have to say about the contentions made in the documentary about the efficacy (or ... lack thereof) of these flame retardants.

 

[Alan Browne]

An article in the LATimes with graphics of the boat.
https://www.latimes.com/projects/ca...routes/#nt=liA1promoMedium-1col-7030col1-main

"A compliant fire trap."

That aft hatch is a joke.

@scubafanatic - it would be very easy to have all re-charging done in a sheltered and vented cabin on the deck somewhere. Even having the charging stations in the galley seems like a firetrap.

 

[tarponchik]

I'd suggest dive boats disable/rip out all cabin plug in electrical sockets to remove the possibility of folks doing stealth battery recharging 'off the books' in their cabins, in violation of boat safety policy.

Although not politically correct, it's very possible the mass fire fatality was caused by secret/'illegal' in cabin/bunk battery charging.

In the same vein, I refuse to ever live in an apartment complex because I live in fear of what idiocy the twits next door are doing that would burn ME down! (just 2 weekends ago the Kroger's where I shop had a HUGE apartment complex fire breakout in mid-afternoon right behind their store!)

Just FYI (though this is off topic), a 1997 report on social and economic effects on fire rates in the US quotes a study that found no connection between fire rates and percentage of housing in one-unit. There was, however, a connection between fire rates and powerty, home ownership, education and percentage of unsuperwised children. What's more, I've seen satellite images from CA fires where whole cities burned to the ground. The houses in these cities and neighborhoods were built wall to wall, so blame it on the developer's greed or not, living in a house there gave no survival advantage over an apartment compex.

Frankly, I am surprised by the sudden attention to rechargeable batteries. I am not a big fan of liveaboards and I have been only on 3 so far. However, none of the three crews paid any attention whatsoever to who was charging what and where.

 

[Sven-G]

According to Marinetraffic.com the salvage barge DBSalta Verde is back in Port Hueneme ( MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic ) and no boats show up in Platt's cove. Has there been any report to the effect that the wreck has been brought to the mainland or maybe they just suspended operations during the wind event ?

 

[EricTheDood]

"A compliant fire trap."

That aft hatch is a joke.

Fires are on everyone's minds right now, but IMO those bunk rooms are traps, period. Someone called it a dungeon in one news article.

Dangerous in many situations in addition to fire.

 

[Alan Browne]

@tarponchik The emergence of Li-ion batteries over the past 10 - 20 years has given us all sorts of portability. 99% of owners have no clue how much energy they store or (worse) how unstable Li-ion batteries are. Electric cars (Tesla et al) would not be practical w/o Li-ion batteries. Or today's drones. That's how much energy is involved.

They are so unstable that they have to be packaged with enclosures and safety electronics around them to protect them from undercharge, overcharge, short circuits, over load, etc. (Gasoline tanks have to be well designed too...)

It's actually a huge tribute to the engineers who design their packaging and control circuitry so well that there are relatively few incidents...

When you hear about some "vaper"'s mod exploding in his face, chances are it's an unregulated "mechanical mod". He makes his own rig, and is a short circuit away from plastic surgery and/or blindness...

Re-charging "good" Li-ion batteries should not be an issue. Damage (including salt water ingress to a battery compartment, for example) is something else entirely.

 

[chillyinCanada]

An article in the LATimes with graphics of the boat.
https://www.latimes.com/projects/ca...routes/#nt=liA1promoMedium-1col-7030col1-main

"A compliant fire trap."

That aft hatch is a joke.

@scubafanatic - it would be very easy to have all re-charging done in a sheltered and vented cabin on the deck somewhere. Even having the charging stations in the galley seems like a firetrap.

Paywall

 

[Alan Browne]

Fires are on everyone's minds right now, but IMO those bunk rooms are traps, period. Someone called it a dungeon in one news article.

Same is quoted in an article linked to that above ...

 

[Akimbo]

I am not a big fan of liveaboards and I have been only on 3 so far. However, none of the three crews paid any attention whatsoever to who was charging what and where.

Not sure if this is fleet-wide but I was aboard the Rock Island Aggressor in Palau this May. They had three all-metal open shelf cubbies for charging. Each cubby had US-standard 120VAC receptacles.

They only allowed charging small stuff like shavers and cell phones in cabins. Stewards looked out for violations but there was nothing that would prevent charging larger stuff overnight in violation of the rules.

 

[Alan Browne]

Paywall

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