Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

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The press is desperate for a story, if their contacts with SB staff are any indication. They would interview a turnip if it had been on the boat and could speak.

I’ve seen this report and thinking about it while also taking it with the grain of salt it requires.

As I recall the pilot house (and again, I may be thinking of another boat but would imagine the layout is similar) there is a door to the wheelhouse (which is very small relative to the salon below and bunks below that). Obviously the bridge at the very front, attached to capt’s quarters, then behind that crew bunks.

I only know about anchor watch what I see on Below Deck (don’t judge) so maybe you can chime in. But I always just assumed anchor watch was on the bridge. Perhaps there is an hourly walk through of the salon but 90% of time is spent here. If true then I could see that the watch didn’t see anything looking towards the bow (I won’t speculate on anything else).

something pops and wakes up a crew in the back bunk, opens the rear pilot house door and sees the conflagration. Two mayday calls follow, etc.

This is speculation and conjecture and no idea ignoring it makes sense. But trying to make sense of this (alleged) statement
 
I recall reading that this was the last night of the trip. Does anyone know if normally there would be diving the next day or just a dock and depart?
 
Normally 3 morning dives before lunch and heading back to port in Santa Barbara.
Ok thanks. I was just curious whether some people might have had a few extra drinks on the last night but doesn't sound likely if they were diving the next day.
 
First, I've been so haunted by this event, and this board has helped in knowing so many fellow divers are so equally disturbed, thanks. Thoughts and prayers to the families and all that are close to the operation.

I'm resolved to the idea that the fire started in the bunk room, and everyone succumbed to smoke inhalation in their sleep, as they say is the case in home fires without a working smoke alarm. I hope they come to this conclusion, and quickly for the alternatives are truly nightmarish.

I've read a lot of this thread, but admittedly jumped to the end at about page 50 as there was much repetition and speculation based on early and inaccurate reports. My thoughts and observations:

The captain of the boat that pulled the Conception to deeper water so the fireboats could reach indicated the first four recovered floated to the surface at the time of the sinking and he helped recover them.

There was a statement that all the bodies would need DNA identification due to extreme thermal damage, indication no one made it out and into the water.

Based on my stay on the Vision four years ago, there was a 120V outlet between the topmost single bunks that could very likely have been used for recharging batteries at night (the charging station in the rear of the salon was always at capacity). There was nothing said about not using these outlets for this purpose, but then this was before the infamous Samsung phone combustion issue and recall.

As was mentioned, the electric generator and air circulation system made for a lot of white noise. Also with so many people a strange noise at 3AM wouldn't likely be cause to investigate, and by this time and two days of diving everyone would be sleeping hard. My single bunk had a ventilation outlet that with my privacy curtain closed created positive pressure of clean air that isolated the bunk from smells (and therefore smoke). I don't know if all bunks had this ventilation, it was nice and would make sense from a comfort standpoint.

The forward 1/3 of the boat was the most consumed by the early fire, idication it did not start at the stern and probably not at the charging station at the rear of the salon. Also note the apparent early hull burn-through at the waterline; possible indication it started low, like in the bunk compartment. The fire would egress up the staircase, i.e the forward section of the boat.

After writing this I found this article with the same theory by the boat's designer:

Theory on Conception dive boat fire points to phone-charging station
 
I see so many comments about batteries being charged.

Lithium batteries very often begin burning/smoldering when NOT being charged.

Read this link below and note that on June 2, 2019 a 1,200 Whr battery "caught fire and re-ignited several times" (That is a HUGE battery) but my point on that date is not permitted to ship lithium-ion batteries by US Postal mail and the shipper decided to lie about the contents.

https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/resources/lithium_batteries/media/Battery_incident_chart.pdf
Thank you for sharing this link.
 
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