Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[ijdod]

Yep any automatic water based system ends up exchanging the risk of asphyxiation with the risk of sinking as well.

I'm not sure sinking in the main risk here, when such systems are used as intended. There's also systems which use very low quantities of water; essentially a very high pressure (~2000 psi) misting system. Those systems (including similar gas systems) are geared to putting out a starting fire, not to combat an inferno, so flooding the boat is not a risk at this point. Note that in some of the nighttime pictures, substantial amounts of water are already used to fight the fire.

 

[KevinNM]

Does anyone know if a boat such as this would be required to have a night watch while folks slept?

Early in the thread someone mentioned he'd always found a crew-member awake when he got up to pee or something in the middle of the night in his multiple trips on this operations boats.

 

[tbone1004]

of note with all of the water discussions. If this was a lithium fire, water makes it worse. Pouring water on lithium fires releases hydrogen which is obviously highly flammable....

 

[KevinNM]

I'm not sure sinking in the main risk here, when such systems are used as intended. There's also systems which use very low quantities of water; essentially a very high pressure (~2000 psi) misting system. Those systems (including similar gas systems) are geared to putting out a starting fire, not to combat an inferno, so flooding the boat is not a risk at this point. Note that in some of the nighttime pictures, substantial amounts of water are already used to fight the fire.

You can also use a bilge pump to suck the water out the ship. Not sure this is commonly done, but it's possible.

 

[Diving Dubai]

For anyone who thinks the NTSB can’t come up with plausible and or probable explanations for this tragedy has seen what they can do with airplane wrecks, I anxiously await the findings.

I've had the misfortune to have to piece together (as part of a team) far too many aircraft incidents post crash.

Comparing them with this is chalk and cheese.

With an air crash you have a ton of data, also you have metal. lots can be determined by its place in the debris field, prior to examining the fragment/large chunk

Here you have nothing above the water line. I'd guess the initiation point is gone, probably the item that was the started it too. There will be no chance of analysing flame pattern etc.

I would guess that the ops' other boat will be impounded and used for a point of reference study, maybe the NTSB will construct a similar model for a burn test.

They will for sure figure out why the passengers couldn't escape, and I'd be surprised if there aren't criminal charges pressed

As to the exact cause, I highly suspect unless they get lucky and have a good piece of evidence, an educated guess will be the best they can do

 

[JohnnyC]

You could have a literal oil tanker full of CO2 parked next to the boat and it wouldn't extinguish a battery fire.

Until we know what caused the fire, and what caused it to spread so rapidly, the suppositions about suppression systems are surprisingly moot.

Not to mention like @rjack321 said, fill a boat full of Halon and the fire's out, but everyone's still dead.....

That being said, I think lots of boat owners are going to reevaluate their charging procedures regardless of whether or not it is linked to the cause of this fire. A quick flip stainless table that immediately dumps the contents over the side is probably a pretty good idea.

 

[cerich]

You can also use a bilge pump to suck the water out the ship. Not sure this is commonly done, but it's possible.

yes, but generally and almost in all situations, the bilge pumps have less capacity than the fire pumps.

 

[KathyV]

The Santa Barbara Sheriff is quoted as saying that "it appears that the berthing quarters exit and an escape hatch were blocked by fire."

The Latest: Exits likely blocked by fire on dive boat

 

[rjack321]

They will for sure figure out why the passengers couldn't escape, and I'd be surprised if there aren't criminal charges pressed

And what crime would that be?
This vessel passed its required inspections, the deficiencies identified were rectified. The vessel itself was considered "safe" at the time of its departure.
Yes, it's possible the watch fell asleep. Its just as speculative that something like a scooter battery initiated a fire so rapidly and with the windows open it wasn't detected until the whole cabin was ablaze.

 

[Wookie]

I think it worked like that on the Spree too. Though not the crazy cabinet thing.

Not completely sure why, partially I'd guess it has to do with maintaining water tight compartments and also where the passenger berths are compared to the salon and the engine room.

Someone posted the regulations earlier, but to summarize, you must not have an escape path through a watertight bulkhead. This is a fight I had with the Coast Guard for many years, and eventually I installed a $30,000 door that met the regulations.

This is exactly how it was on Spree. My new boat has the hatch from the berthing area out to the main deck behind the anchor windlass. But it can (as the conspiracy theorists say) be locked.