Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[Dryglove]

Captain of Conception's sister ship stands up for colleagues

Captain of Conception's sister ship stands up for colleagues

 

[KathyV]

This Washington Post article discusses plans for the investigation and possible causes and says that the incident is being investigated by NTSB, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It also says that the MayDay call was made by the Captain and that Truth Aquatics has a good reputation and it is unlikely that they would cut corners.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...226960-ced2-11e9-a620-0a91656d7db6_story.html

 

[NickB-LA]

I've been thinking a LOT during the past 24 hours and to be honest, I'd get on one of their other boats tomorrow.

I said the same thing earlier this evening.

I understand why people are reacting the way they are and calling for change and expressing reservations about the design as it currently exists. At the same time, I am just one California diver amongst thousands who has spent more nights on these boats than I can count. That's not to say that the boats are unfailingly safe, but they are not inherently lethal either.

We need to address the lessons of this tragedy, not overstate them.

 

[KevinNM]

We need to address the lessons of this tragedy, not overstate them.

Once we figure out what those lessons are. Right now the only clearly obvious one is that serious reconsideration of the rules about emergency exits needs to be done. I suspect others will be found as the investigation proceeds.

 

[Griffo]

I'll try to make this my final post. I'm normally in support of the A&I forum being rather ruthless in it's tearing apart of any event. But this whole incident just makes me feel sick, and reading here and on FB that accusations and finger-pointing and witch-hunting going on just makes it worse.

I do hope that - once the actual facts are well established - that the community comes together to learn and better protect future adventures. At the moment it feels like when you see a group tear itself apart with recriminations after a significant loss.

Vale to those poor souls that lost their lives in this incident, and my deepest sympathy to their friends, colleagues, family and acquaintances. My thoughts also to the crew, owners, dive club etc that are connected to this. You must all be in immense pain.

 

[Diver2019]

It took me the whole day to read 651 posts......because I was planning to go on THIS trip.

Anyway, I thought fires alway burn upwards. So if galley caught fire, crews on the bridge should feel the heat first. I can't imagine the fire could engulf the whole galley and the stairwell before any of the crew members was waken up by the combustion heat alone. I understand the night watch might be asleep, but we are talking about literally a volcano here. The interview and news all said the crew member made zero attempt to firefighting or rescue or even alarm the passengers. I can't imagine any well trained and responsible mariners will give up like that unless it's really a volcano. No, no one even mentioned they ran to the stair yelling or looking. Non one said they reached for fire extinguishers or anything.

 

[guruboy]

The vessel was in compliance. If the regulations need changing, that isn’t on the owner or crew.

This thread has many posts and I haven’t read them all yet, so I don’t know if anyone else already addressed this point.

I’m not trying to single you out personally. I agree the owner seemingly did nothing wrong legally. And it is not their job to change the law.

However, meeting the legal requirements is a minimum. It is absolutely up to the owner or crew to try and ensure a safe and enjoyable diving experience for customers. Even if it goes beyond the minimum required.

I fully expect the owner and crew to have felt safe enough to invite loved ones to dive on that boat prior to the accident. If they continue to operate in the same conditions, I might start to question their judgement, regardless of what the law states.

 

[KevinNM]

The boat was an inspected vessel and had been found to be fully compliant with the regulations as it was annually inspected for decades.

The person sleeping in the bunk with the hatch would have known it was there. The fact that nobody got out suggests that either they were incapacitated by something (like the fire toxins) or the fire was so big and so hot before anyone alerted that nobody could make it out of the room to the ocean.

The crew apparently jumped off the boat into the water in their underwear and swam to the dingy, which was presumably floating tied to the back of the boat. By the time they reached the nearby vessel the incident vessel was described by a witness as in flames from stem to stern.

 

[KevinNM]

It took me the whole day to read 651 posts......because I was planning to go on THIS trip.

Anyway, I thought fires alway burn upwards. So if galley caught fire, crews on the bridge should feel the heat first. I can't imagine the fire could engulf the whole galley and the stairwell before any of the crew members was waken up by the combustion heat alone. I understand the night watch might be asleep, but we are talking about literally a volcano here. The interview and news all said the crew member made zero attempt to firefighting or rescue or even alarm the passengers. I can't imagine any well trained and responsible mariners will give up like that unless it's really a volcano. No, no one even mentioned they ran to the stair yelling or looking. Non one said they reached for fire extinguishers or anything.

A value I’ve seen for the heat output of a room that reaches flashover is 25 megawatts of heat per second. It’s over a thousand degrees and pouring out huge amounts of intensely toxic gasses. Fire extinguishers won’t touch it, you can’t even get close enough to try without your clothes catching on fire from the radiant heat.

How it got so bad either that fast or without anyone noticing is almost certain to be a major focus of the investigation.

 

[tc]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Thread closed for now.

Everyone please take a chill pill.

This is a tragic event and emotions are running strong.

Unlike many dive accidents where we never get any official opinion to help us learn and make our diving safer the NTSB will be investigating and hopefully will have recommendations to make our boats safer and avoid a repeat of this incident.

This one is hard, many of us are waiting with great dread to see the list of those on board because we may know some of them.

Blamestorming is NEVER allowed here. Please show respect for those lost in this tragedy and the crew who are undoubtedly going through the greatest personal hell of their lives and keep your posts respectful.

If you have the words “I believe” in your post please stop right there. No one here has anywhere near enough information on the incident to base any meaningful conclusions on.

Bottom line- we’ve lost friends, we’ll get through it as we always do.

Be kind to each other.

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