Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[roakey]

Perhaps in your part of the world. Most of the rest of the world is metric...

To inject some humor into this otherwise morbid topic, I was watching some youtube video the other say where the presenter said:

"So that's <whatever> in English units, or <whatever> for countries that haven't put a man on the moon."

Don't get me wrong, I like the metric system and wish we were on it, but I gave out quite a guffaw.

Roak

 

[Scuba-74]

Except that you're right that watt is a unit of power you've got it mixed up. Watt is joule per second, and joule is the SI unit of energy. So it's a watt times second which is a unit of energy, not a watt per second.

So watt per second is the unit for rate of power increase, not for energy.

Perhaps in your part of the world. Most of the rest of the world is metric, and there the common unit for heat is J (joule). Or kJ, MJ, GJ etc. One BTU is rather close to one kJ (1.055 kJ, to be more precise).

EDIT: Dang, this thread is moving fast. Two other answers just during the time I used to type mine on the phone

You (and others that pointed out my typo) are correct.

What I meant is watt-second (or kWh, MWh, and so on), is a unit of energy. Not watt per second. I also see your point about the BTUs. I work in wholesale electric energy markets in the US, and we operate in MW, MWh, mmBTU, and mmBTU/h.

 

[roakey]

Same here, but I do pause a bit on wether I would bring my 14 year old daughter....

Bunks 10U & 27U.

Roak

 

[JackD342]

4 dead, 29 missing in California dive boat fire; crew jumped

Thanks.

 

[ChrisM]

If it hasn't already been posted, this article contains a transcript of an interview with the owner of Truth Aquatics. It doesn't shed any light on the cause of the fire, but it does give some details on crew actions trying to respond to the blaze, and the location of O2 etc.

"I'm Numb": Boat Owner on Deadly Fire Near Santa Cruz Island

Someone else posted but thanks as it saved me going back 20 pages to find it.

Interesting and answers a few questions for me regarding the crew which I had already assumed.

I am just sick over this whole thing. Least obvious statement ever I guess but having been on the vision a few times, and other similar boat layouts, I’m sure a lot of us are replaying the scenarios over and over in our minds and wondering..... well... hopefully they were overtaken by hypoxia or at least smoke, and hopefully it was quick

And the survivor guilt for the crew is going to be bad enough without all the BS I’m reading on social media. They are going to need a lot of counseling and hopefully they can come to the conclusion, as I believe, that they did the very best they could under utterly horrific and nightmarish circumstances.

I used to do a lot of boat diving locally but not on the last 10 years or so. A few shore dives a year. I think it’s odd that this incident has made me want to get back into it more

And I don’t think it’s being cavalier to agree that I’d go on these boats tomorrow. I remember years back with the “drifting dan” incident off the Sundiver, I also had no qualms about going going on that boat the next week. What happened there, as here (different scale I acknowledge) was so completely out of the norm and such an aberration that the odds of a recurrence were infinitesimal

 

[dmaziuk]

Lithium batteries are still allowed in carry-on luggage, correct? I'm mainly thinking of the ubiquitous 18650 Li-Ion cells that are used by many dive lights and the high capacity cells in video lights.

If they are determined to be the cause, I'm sure that they will be regulated somehow. But if these batteries are banned completely from dive boats, that would mean things like night diving and underwater photography / videography would no longer be possible. For that reason I just can't see a complete ban being enacted...

Somehow I don't think posting a video of a Tesla on fire and talking a handful of 18650s makes a reasonable argument, especially considering how many of them are abused by RC people, in vaporizers, laptops, etc., and how relatively few fires they cause. Because it's not reasonable, we can fully expect some knee-jerk local regulations at the very least, I'm sure.

 

[shoredivr]

Lithium batteries are still allowed in carry-on luggage, correct? I'm mainly thinking of the ubiquitous 18650 Li-Ion cells that are used by many dive lights and the high capacity cells in video lights.

If they are determined to be the cause, I'm sure that they will be regulated somehow. But if these batteries are banned completely from dive boats, that would mean things like night diving and underwater photography / videography would no longer be possible. For that reason I just can't see a complete ban being enacted...

Actually we had dive lights that were non-Lithium batteries for decades and people videoed and night dived just fine.

 

[lexvil]

They were reported to have the appearance of injuries consistent with drowning, but the actual cause of death couldn't possible be determined for sure by first responders. And I would think that being able to tell from external appearances whether they actually drowned or succumbed to smoke inhalation would be unlikely on scene.

Knowing my own sleep patterns and those of my brother who I often travel with, which does not always involve sleeping, it is entirely possible that some of the passengers were not below deck when the fire started and the crew might not have been aware of this.
Just a random thought as I'm reading through the posts.

there was usually someone sleeping in the salon on the bench seats, some feeling seasick, some because they felt hot below or stuffy, various reasons. At this point we really don’t know anything.

 

[oncor23]

Seems, then, like a lack of fire/smoke detection systems in order for a fire to get that large before any detection system was triggered (if it ever was)? Hopefully that will be addressed as part of the investigation.

Exactly. What happened to the smoke alarms? There should have been multiple alarms...and they should have been hooked up such that when one went off, they all went off. Either that, or make them so loud they could be heard everywhere. It appears that when the crew woke up/noticed the smoke....all they could do is jump overboard. What? No one had time to get out of the dorm room below decks because they didn't know the boat was on fire??? I'm sorry, but that is a problem.

 

[cerich]

Exactly. What happened to the smoke alarms? There should have been multiple alarms...and they should have been hooked up such that when one went off, they all went off. .

I don't see that in the applicable regulations, can you cite please?