Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[Tesibria]

i was on a LOB several weeks ago. There was a designated night watch on our trip. He was - the 3-4 times I saw him late at night — always on the dive deck doing various things, moving around or chatting with someone. He went to bed abound 8 am, I understood (I was out diving so can’t personally verify) — and went back in duty around 9 pm. We were asked not to knock on the door of the crew cabin where he slept during the day. I never saw him working during the day - only after 9 pm. Actually, I never saw him period during the day except after dinner (when he was having breakfast).

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Can you imagine the liability?

I'm more thinking that on the liveaboards I've done, we racked up four dives per day. I sure as hell wouldn't volunteer to cut that to one or two so I can sit up with a fire extinguisher all night.

Moving on, it seems a few of our regulars had a word with the San Francisco Chronicle; what intrigues me is the incident mentioned at the very end: After fire, divers worry that burst of regulations will restrain free-spirited sport

 

[infieldg]

Those on this thread who have compared the Conception to a death trap, and Truth Aquatics as their greedy owners, are being disrespectful to both, and displaying remarkable 20/20 hindsight.

While you may be used to this design and accustomed to trusting it because it's legal and the operator was top notch - that's without question - and the track record of the basic design is good, some of us are simply looking at it objectively through fresh eyes and seeing it for the first time, and given the enormity of the loss, some emotion will find it's way into comments unfortunately.

Personally I didn't know this type of liveaboard even existed until now and was genuinely shocked after watching a video walk-through and 650 posts later everything I've seen, read and learnt only compounds the feeling that I would genuinely not be willing to sleep down there.

That's not 20/20 hindsight - I've spent a chilly night on an open deck (engine hatch from memory) on a small liveaboard with a more open design, only about eight pax, but a single exit to the rear through the galley.

Yeah, it was definitely the engine hatch, I remember being kicked off it at 5am.

 

[jplant]

Timing Observations and Questions:

The Mayday call was about 0315. The Coast Guard arrived at 0330. It will be interesting to find out if the Coast Guard happened to be 15 minutes away and started heading for the Conception based on the radio call or saw a glow in the night sky and started heading in that direction before the call. It will also be interesting to see testimony from the crew and people on boats anchored nearby to get an idea when the fire got large enough to light up the area. I'm unsure if it was clear of foggy at the time.

Note that Santa Cruz Island is about 25 miles from the nearest Coast Guard station at Oxnard, just north of Port Hueneme. An hour transit from port would be pretty fast, depending on sea state. Santa Barbara is a few miles farther.

View attachment 539500​

First responders to arrive were from Ventura FD, I believe.

 

[chillyinCanada]

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[Diving Dubai]

Because these vessels made thousands of safe trips over the past 30+ years and there's no evidence your changes are even relevant to the cause here.

To be a proper baseline, you'd have to have evidence that over those 30 yeas there were X number of fires on boats which were survivable to passengers on crew

Just because a vessel sails and returns without incident, doesn't prove its safe. That proof is established when it survives an incident.

My personal opinion as to what NTSB will find:

That the boat met the regulations (as per escape routes) to the letter, but not to the spirit (actual intent)

By that I mean, while the hatch over a bunk satisfied the regs, it didn't meet the intent (who would think that a hatch above a small bunk effectively a small crawl space is suitable) And there will be arguments over the area in which it exited being the "same physical area as the stairs. No physical separation

 

[Wookie]

How about the chartering party hire their own person to stay up all night and keep watch with plenty of fire extinguishers very close by within easy reach. That’s something that could be done right now. Maybe give the person a free trip plus a little money (shared by the people chartering the trip). Whoever takes the assignment would basically sit watch on the main deck, watch videos, read, sketch, whatever, but their main job would be fire watch.
In the morning when other people are up they can go do a dive or two, eat lunch, then go below and crash out at 2 pm. They get up at 10 or 11 PM, grab some dinner that was saved for them and go to work.
This could be done right now with no waiting for mandates or new rules.
I’m sure the anchor watch hand would like it too; to have someone else awake to talk to.

This would put them “in service” to the vessel, and in a very legal sense, would make them crew. Which comes with all kinds of requirements for training and insurance. If a roving sounding and security watch is needed, the Coast Guard should require it and the company should implement it.

 

[wgw04024]

"Cut a hole in the boat with a saw when needed during an emergency"....seriously, who's idea was this?

 

[Hiszpan]

I'm more thinking that on the liveaboards I've done, we racked up four dives per day. I sure as hell wouldn't volunteer to cut that to one or two so I can sit up with a fire extinguisher all night.

Moving on, it seems a few of our regulars had a word with the San Francisco Chronicle; what intrigues me is the incident mentioned at the very end: After fire, divers worry that burst of regulations will restrain free-spirited sport

I enjoyed that article, it's an interesting insight into how California diving community dives. Very informing and encouraging that we, as divers, always find a way to dive, regardless of the geographical location.

 

[Marie13]

Good article. Aside from the liveaboards, reminds me much of our local Great Lakes diving.