Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[oncor23]

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

No regulations that I'm familiar with...but I'm not a marine architect. I'm suggesting that putting separate smoke alarms in separate parts of a boat/ship that are not connected makes little sense. Either the alarm should be hearable in all parts of the boat, or there should be connected alarms so everyone on all parts of the boat know that a fire is occurring.

 

[Steelyeyes]

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.

Apparently certain types of smoke detectors don't always do their job.

COVER- Alarming: Most smoke detectors don't detect deadly smoke

 

[cerich]

No regulations that I'm familiar with...but I'm not a marine architect. I'm suggesting that putting separate smoke alarms in separate parts of a boat/ship that are not connected makes little sense. Either the alarm should be hearable in all parts of the boat, or there should be connected alarms so everyone on all parts of the boat know that a fire is occurring.

the regulations are pretty clear, the berthing space on that vessel would not have to have a smoke detector that was hard wired to an alarm panel anywhere. That is not to say they didn't, no idea. But they didn't have to.

 

[Bob DBF]

The dinghy was past the fire hoses. Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems clear that in order to get to the dinghy, the crew had to go past the fire hoses.

They had to jump into the ocean in their underwear and swam by the fire hoses, which by that time may have been fully engulfed, to the dingy tied off the stern. As I remember fire hoses were amidships, port and starboard, mounted on the outside of the lounge / galley bulkhead.

Was there a proper safety briefing?

Every SoCal boat I have gone out on, including the Conception, have had a proper safety briefing, however whether people listen is another question. I know one boat that has stopped safety and dive briefings untill everyone was paying attention, or at least looked like they were.

What is the nature of the smoke detectors on the vessel?

Is there any fire suppression system?

Coast Guard inspected and approved. Any problems on that front has to be addressed by the folks that approve marine construction.



Bob

 

[JohnnyC]

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.

Probability and severity are not correlated. A hand grenade rarely goes off unintended, but when it does, there's a significant impact. A Genesis 1200 scooter has a 1350Wh Li-ion battery. An UWLD tall can is 160Wh. I've never heard of either catching on fire, but I can tell you I don't want to be around if one did. A sealed can light battery could turn into a literal grenade of the can doesn't yield to heat before pressure.

Do I think this will lead to a banning of battery types? Probably not. But it might lead to a safe storage and charging requirement, maybe a way to dump them overboard in the even of a fire.

 

[diversteve]

Maybe "underemphasize" is a better word. Having drowned victims outside of the boat doesn't fit the theory of a very fast spreading catastrophic fire that so many in this thread seem to give credit to, despite the fact that there is pretty much zero evidence that the fire spread fast enough to prevent everyone below deck from using the exits or even waking up.

Have you ACTUALLY WATCHED the video?

 

[Wookie]

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.

A supervised system was not required. Smoke detectors had to be in each berthing area, and in the galley, but did not have to be "supervised", which is a fire detection term for they they come in somewhere else or communicate with each other.

I assume you meant should as in "If I were king..." and not as if you are aware of the appropriate regulations...

 

[Scuba-74]

Have you ACTUALLY WATCHED the video?

WHAT VIDEO?

 

[Wookie]

I just found out that one of the deceased couples were crewmembers on the Fling. A sad day just got sadder, for me anyway.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

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.

I've been on overnight trips with Truth Aquatics a few times. With the sounds of people in the bunk room, water hitting the outside of the hull, movement upstairs and generator noise, I rarely got much sleep in my bunk. I would often be in the salon during the middle of the night. Sometimes there would be one or two others as well.

In this case, if four divers managed to escape the fire I believe they would have likely gone for the inflatable tied to the stern and not drowned. If they were in the water before the boat sank, it's possible they floated out of the burnt holes in the side of the boat or from the water being sprayed by the fireboat hoses.