34 people feared dead after boat catches fire off California's Santa Cruz Island: officials

a reply to: PilSungMtnMan

- 5 members of one family
- 1 marine biologist leading the dive

Ages ranging from teens to 60’s. Most from NoCal

www.foxnews.com...

Majority of victims covered in this article:

www.mercurynews.com...

Has the one last missing body been found yet?

Early investigation of boat fire suggests serious safety lapses aboard vessel

No one was on watch.

A preliminary investigation into the Conception boat fire has suggested serious safety deficiencies aboard the vessel, including the lack of a “roaming nightwatchman” who is required to be awake and alert passengers in the event of a fire or other dangers, according to several law enforcement sources familiar with the inquiry.

A crew member awakes to find the galley area and stairs engulfed in flames.

a reply to: roadgravel

No fire alarm system in the sleeping quarters??? No gas detection system in the sleeping quarters???

Those are the first things I look for!!

I've been on many diving boats!

Fire is the worst fear on any boat...especially a boat carrying compressed gases!

Liability??? Yeah, I'd say so!

When you have folks packed in there THAT tight below deck I figure a smoke/fire/etc detector would be late in the game by time it went off.

Ive been on numerous diving and deep sea fishing trips ( I grew up in the Gulf) .. Ive never heard or seen anything like the way those poor people were packed in there.

If you all havent seen the diagram of the boat and the sleeping quarters, go google. Youll see what I mean. It was really horrible.

There is speculation for fire due to recharging lots of batteries for cams and equipment. If that was the case one would think a person on watch would have found fire long before the whole ship was engulfed.

Very sad as maybe it was preventable.

a reply to: Advantage

Actually, many operators don't like them because they are TOO sensitive. So, things like on-deck BBQ's and the like will set them off. People smoking, and any number of other things will set them off...so they get disabled. Gas detectors especially. Lots of times there are fuel transfers and all sorts of other things which will set off a gas detector.

Sounds like some of these things were not present, or were disabled.

A propane stove on a deck above will almost always set off a gas detector on a floor below, just lighting the stove. This is an inconvenience, because shutting off the alarm can be hard. So, they are often disabled. Remember, propane is much heavier than air.

Now, they're saying a cell phone charger started it (or may have). Okay, so it was a LiOn battery...(likely excuse). Okay, well, then where was the fire detection and suppression????

You see...there are some serious questions here, despite all the nice people who where on board.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Im meaning a sardine packed lower level.. it wouldnt matter if the alarm went off, those folks werent getting out. I sure agree that there are major issues with this. If there were working and maintained measures then at least more should have survived. I was personally just blown away by how many people were shoved in that tight and that it looked like a problem waiting to happen when I saw the layout/floor plan below deck or whatever youd call it) of the boat. If thats legal then folks need to really revisit the amount of people you can cram in for a few more bucks.

originally posted by: Advantage
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk
I was personally just blown away by how many people were shoved in that tight and that it looked like a problem waiting to happen when I saw the layout/floor plan below deck or whatever youd call it) of the boat. If thats legal then folks need to really revisit the amount of people you can cram in for a few more bucks.

It's not just the number of people, but the fact it only had one exit. If there was an exit at both ends of that sleeping deck, I bet most -- if not all -- could have survived.

Crew members on a dive boat say they were never instructed on emergency procedures before a predawn fire swept through the vessel as it was anchored off the Southern California coast, killing 34 people as they slept below deck, according to federal documents released Wednesday.

Capt. Jerry Boylan

Boylan could face federal manslaughter counts, and recent court documents say criminal charges are imminent. The NTSB has said all six crew members were asleep when the fire broke out, a violation of Coast Guard regulations requiring a roving watch.

Hundreds of pages of documents released by the safety board provide a detailed look at the boat's final hours on Sept. 2, 2019. It will vote Oct. 20 on the investigation's findings, as well as the blaze's probable cause and any potential recommendations.

Published September 17, 2020

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