Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[Akimbo]

^^^ @Dirty Mac, well stated sir.

 

[Ravenware]

It's a ridiculous conjecture. A sad battery will not instantly engulf a 65 ft vessel. Just stop and think about physics for even a single moment.

An extensive report, but worth reading if you do not know how a battery could have caused this. There are hundreds of reports on airplanes; the TSA keeps track, but more importantly, all it takes is damaged battery which can be nothing more than dropping it. Also, knock offs are difficult to tell if they are trying to copy a legitimate brand. Lith batteries are dangerous; they can and do explode and when they do, they cause fire. Safety Concerns with Li-ion Batteries – Battery University

 

[Marie13]

I’m in international transportation and often have to deal with lithium ion batteries. If they were so harmless, the batteries would not have such restrictions for shipment via air. Even for ocean shipments, they have to be noted on the paperwork.

 

[ijdod]

I'm not sure why suggesting chargers/batteries as a possible cause of the fire seems to rub some people the wrong way to this extent.

 

[cerich]

I'm not sure why suggesting chargers/batteries as a possible cause of the fire seems to rub some people the wrong way to this extent.

Because, as someone posted early in this thread, the items that use them are things that help make it enjoyable for people, and they don't want that infringed upon by restrictions. People get upset..ask Wookie

 

[johndiver999]

the Semantics of current inspections are not very interesting to me.

With respect to design and layout: Providing an additional emergency exit route on the existing boat would be expensive and possibly impractical if you wanted the exit to deliver passengers from their bunks to another different location on the boat.

However, it seems that the fire alarm system did not function adequately. Do current standards require an interconnected alarm system? I would assume with wireless technology that an interconnected system would be within the realm of technical and financial feasibility- even if it needed to be hardwired.

Was the existing system composed of independent alarms? Is that specific criterion one of the grandfathered ones?

It sounds like detecting the fire sooner might have changed the outcome?

 

[Wookie]

the Semantics of current inspections are not very interesting to me.

With respect to design and layout: Providing an additional emergency exit route on the existing boat would be expensive and possibly impractical if you wanted the exit to deliver passengers from their bunks to another different location on the boat.

However, it seems that the fire alarm system did not function adequately. Do current standards require an interconnected alarm system? I would assume with wireless technology that an interconnected system would be within the realm of technical and financial feasibility- even if it needed to be hardwired.

Was the existing system composed of independent alarms? Is that specific criterion one of the grandfathered ones?

It sounds like detecting the fire sooner might have changed the outcome?

No, current standards require stand alone battery operated smoke detectors in the berthing areas. That does not stop you from exceeding requirements, as long as you meet the requirements as well. For instance, most supervised alarm systems are powered from the central box in the wheelhouse, but that is not allowed. It must be battery powered.

Mine was wireless, and supervised. If the remote receiver failed, the local smoke detector still worked. That exceeded requirements, but met them as well.

 

[Akimbo]

I'm not sure why suggesting chargers/batteries as a possible cause of the fire seems to rub some people the wrong way to this extent.

I think it is very reasonable to suspect lithium batteries as a possible root cause, but not to the exclusion of everything else. I would be surprised if dive boats don't quickly restrict where they can be charged and stored (at least above a certain size) long before findings are published. However, they are not the only possible root cause and would not be the only system failure if it was.

It is also possible that new mandated and unmandated procedures dealing with batteries will introduce new hazards.

 

[PDX Diver]

No, current standards require stand alone battery operated smoke detectors in the berthing areas.

That would be "detector" (singular), they stated the Vision on inspection had a single smoke detector in the berth compartment. They are so inexpensive I would think some redundancy (at least two in different locations) would be reasonable, and provide the earliest possible detection.

 

[Ravenware]

I'm not sure why suggesting chargers/batteries as a possible cause of the fire seems to rub some people the wrong way to this extent.

We, as humans do not like things we cannot control; to think that the cause of this could just be a faulty piece of gear and not a mistake made by a human, (which of course we would never make) makes us feel safer. And, to Cerich point, how many lithium batteries do we use daily?

For a dive trip, I have my dive computer; phone; tablet; camera and spare battery; camera lights and wireless headphones, and that is a basic trip. For serious photographers, they have bigger camera's and lights,

The issue is not new and there have been many improvements, but as long as people buy inferior product, (usually unknowingly) and treat it like any other battery, we will have issues. The TSA publishes a report of only lith issues, and it is extensive. I have no problem imagining an explosion either on the charging table that caused everything else on the table to catch fire, or in the bunk room.

I have been on that boat, my bunk was under the stairs, all bunks have curtains, people have their clothing spread out in the bunk, lots of flammables. There are some outlets in the bunk room, and I can easily see someone deciding to utilize it for something.

And if there was a watch person awake in the wheelhouse, it is easy to see how they may not have seen it start, because it is behind and below the area. Especially if it started in the bunk room which has been implied.

It has caused me to rethink how and where I purchase, handle and travel with lith batteries. Unless you buy directly from the brand website, you really do not know if you are getting an inferior product, and that inferiority could be drastic, such as not using the right configuration of raw materials, and certainly having smart batteries that sense when they are full and stop charging. Overcharging can be a real issue.

I have a trip coming up in October to dive the Seychelles; and I am absolutely taking all my removable batteries in a Li Po safe container. Even at home we are rethinking how we charge and store anything battery related.