Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[Ron Lee]

I just watched the presser linked on the previous page. In addition to the points already discussed, family members should note that identification will take some time. That time was not specified by the sheriff/coroner.

Personally I would not now go on an overnight trip until the cause is determined and any corrective action taken.

I suggest that the local dive ops stand down until that information is known and corrective actions...if needed.. are taken.

It was also stated that there were six crew members, not five as I understood earlier. 33 passengers...not 34.

Next press conference 1000 AM local Tuesday.

The USCG captain noted an extensive search operation underway. Any survivors should be found.

 

[kafkaland]

First of all, my condolences to everyone affected by this tragedy. I still can’t believe it.

MSNBC just reported that, because it was a dive boat, there were lots of oxygen tanks on board fueling the fire. I suspect it’s the usual media BS, assuming we all dive on 100% O2 all the time. Grrr.

But I am heartened that the NTSB is takin it the lead on this in investigation. They Have considerable resources at their disposal, and we will get a well-researched public report. It will take a year or more, though. And if they find a systemic problem, this could be the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of livaboards, providing the impetus to make it safer for all of us.

 

[Compressor]

First of all, my condolences to everyone affected by this tragedy. I still can’t believe it.

MSNBC just reported that, because it was a dive boat, there were lots of oxygen tanks on board fueling the fire. I suspect it’s the usual media BS, assuming we all dive on 100% O2 all the time. Grrr.

Condolences can be placed in this area of ScubaBoard.

Regarding your second point, if the operator allowed Nitrox Diving and made nitrox using a partial pressure blend method, then there would be H cylinders of 100% Oxygen. But it does not have to be 100% to be flammable. The fire triad contains oxygen and does not specify concentrations since even lower levels of oxygen can be a fire hazard under the right conditions.

@kafkaland I appreciate your post.

H cylinder:

Source for picture

 

[KevinNM]

What do you think the media wants us to believe? And why would the media want us to believe anything other than the truth?? Just curious.

I'll tend to believe an NTBS or police report. In most cases news reports on scuba accidents get everything wrong. How many dive accident stories have you read in the paper where they talked about 'oxygen tanks'? That's just the start, they get usually everything wrong except maybe the victims name.

“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”

And that is when they are not just manufacturing 'news', either as clickbait or for other reasons.

 

[Sam Miller III]

My mistake

 

[kafkaland]

Condolences can be placed in this area of ScubaBoard.

Regarding your second point, if the operator allowed Nitrox Diving and made nitrox using a partial pressure blend method, then there would be H cylinders of 100% Oxygen. But it does not have to be 100% to be flammable. The fire triad contains oxygen and does not specify concentrations since even lower levels of oxygen can be a fire hazard under the right conditions.

@kafkaland I appreciate your post.

H cylinder: View attachment 538237
Source for picture

I believe it was ascertained in a post above that they were using a membrane system.

 

[CT-Rich]

First of all, my condolences to everyone affected by this tragedy. I still can’t believe it.

MSNBC just reported that, because it was a dive boat, there were lots of oxygen tanks on board fueling the fire. I suspect it’s the usual media BS, assuming we all dive on 100% O2 all the time. Grrr.

But I am heartened that the NTSB is takin it the lead on this in investigation. They Have considerable resources at their disposal, and we will get a well-researched public report. It will take a year or more, though. And if they find a systemic problem, this could be the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of livaboards, providing the impetus to make it safer for all of us.

To begin, my condolences to the families.

I was thinking about the bottled gases that were stored on board the boat myself. Obviously there would be some O2 used for first aid, but I was thinking about air and nitrox that was used by divers. The limiting factors in many fires is the availability of O2 to feed the fire. At what temperature would the burst disks start to fail? I have never been on any these boats, so I am not sure where they would store banked gases or blending gases on a trip like this.

 

[KevinNM]

It was also stated that there were six crew members, not five as I understood earlier. 33 passengers...not 34.

One of the crew members that escaped said his girlfriend was still in the berthing area. A drawing someone posted showed several crew berths in the passenger berthing area.

 

[Wookie]

Condolences can be placed in this area of ScubaBoard.

Regarding your second point, if the operator allowed Nitrox Diving and made nitrox using a partial pressure blend method, then there would be H cylinders of 100% Oxygen. But it does not have to be 100% to be flammable. The fire triad contains oxygen and does not specify concentrations since even lower levels of oxygen can be a fire hazard under the right conditions.

@kafkaland I appreciate your post.

H cylinder: View attachment 538237
Source for picture

Oxygen is never flammable at any concentration.

The operator had a nitrox membrane. Oxygen isn’t even a consideration.

 

[broncobowsher]

It was posted earlier that the O2 was provided by an on-board membrane concentrator. So no need for big H-bottles of O2. And I am sure they were not pumping any gasses at 3AM.

Evening news said the "boat blew up". I hate the news.