Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[Scuba-74]

National Transportation and Safety Board member Jennifer Homendy told The Times she was “taken aback” by the size of the emergency hatch when she toured the Vision.
...

Getting to the emergency hatch was difficult, she said, adding they couldn’t find the light switches in the dark.

“You have to climb up a ladder and across the top bunk and then push a wooden door up,” she said. “It was a tight space. We couldn’t turn the light on.”

I share that sentiment 100%.

 

[AfterDark]

You may want to read the whole thread, no banked nitrox.

That's why I mentioned my ignorance of that fact several times in my post that you quoted. Thanks for the clarification.

I don't think HP 21% would have helped put the fire out however.

 

[Honokai]

You may want to read the whole thread, no banked nitrox.

This discussion could use a thread wiki to highlight the main points. I have tried to follow from the beginning. But it is a lot of posts.

 

[lexvil]

That's why I mentioned my ignorance of that fact several times in my post that you quoted. Thanks for the clarification.

I don't think HP 21% would have put the fire out however.

The tanks were at the stern and its reported to be the last part involved in the fire so probably not a factor at all.

 

[Bob DBF]

Haven't read the entire thread but enough to know there was propane and cooking grease on board but probably not in use. I'm assuming like most liveaboards they had banked nitrox. I won't guess how the fire started and if this has been mentioned excuse me. If the fire started quickly somewhere near the banked nitrox and created a leak the HP enriched air would have fed and spread that fire quite quickly. In addition the burst disks on all the tanks ?filled?

Haveing gone out on the Conception and other Truth boats and other SoCal live abords, I never saw any propane. The galley was electric and the BBQ on the back deck was electric.

There was no banked gas, the compressor was fed from a membrane system directly to the SCUBA tanks. The tanks were all on the back deck, where one sits on a bench to gear up. It was all Nitrox 32. Sometimes divers brought O2 bottles, however it was rare in my experience as most diving was NDL.

The fire was not on the back deck untill it came out of the cabin, from what I could see on the films.

My bets are on batteries, or from @Wookie, in a wire run untill it broke out. Possibly from the draw of battery charging.

My 2 cents.



Bob

 

[Honokai]

I share that sentiment 100%.

I have suffered claustrophobia before. My claustrophobia tends to be more hyper-sensitivity than irrationality. I would have had a hard time sleeping there.

 

[bubffm]

Having been on a number of liveaboards, I remember that on several there was a clear statement as part of the safety briefing that it is absolutely prohibited to charge phones or batteries in the cabin. Only at the camera room/desk or other public areas where someone can react if something happens.

Whether everybody observed this, is a different matter - as always

 

[Wookie]

This discussion could use a thread wiki to highlight the main points. I have tried to follow from the beginning. But it is a lot of posts.

We're discussing how to do that in the back room....

 

[tursiops]

Haven't read the entire thread

If you had, you probably would not have made this post.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Condolances to all.

One suggestion for improvement would be to replace the flamable wooden cabinet above the escape hatch with one that is fireproof. The egress path to daylight works best when it constructed from fire resistant materials.