GUILTY CA - Boat fire near Santa Cruz Island; 34 missing, Sept 2019 *captain charged*

[imstilla.grandma]

Tragic boat fire raises safety concerns:

Partial transcript: (spaced for readability)
BEACHHOPPER DIVING CHARTERS SAYS FIRE SAFETY FOR THEM INCLUDES PULL CORDS THAT TRIGGER THE EXTINGUISHER CLOSING ANY OPEN VENTS, USIN DIVING GEAR THAT IS INFLATABLE... SMALL OR LARGE ....

OFFICIALS SAY FIRE FIGHTING ON THE WATER IS A CHALLEN JUSTIN COOPER-MONTEREY FIRE DIVISION CHIEF CLIP#2085618 00:12:1 THE BOATS ARE MOVING SO ITS VERY HARD A LOT OF TIMES HARD TO GET WATER TO GET THE FIRE OUT FIRE FIGHTERS WILL USE DECK GUNS ON THE TOP OF THE BOAT....

MONTEREY FIRE USES OCEAN WATER TO FLOW THROUGH THE GUNS. SAYING SALT WATER IS VERY EFFECTIVE, SOMETIMES OVER THE USE OF FOAM. JUSTIN COOPER-MONTEREY FIRE DIVISION CHIEF

BUT WHAT YOU END UP HAVING HERE IS YOU HAVE BOATS MADE OF PLASTIC AND FIBER GLASS AND THEY TEND TO BURN VERY HOT. AND A LOT OF TIMES FOAMS MAY NOT PROVIDE THE ADVANTAGE POINT DEPENDING ON WHAT THE CREWS ARE FACING. THE DEPARTMENT SAYS THEY CAN USE A BOOMING MATERIAL THAT SURROUNDS A BOAT FIRE. IT WILL CONTAIN THE RUN OFF OF DISEAL OR GASOLINE.

"AND YOU CAN HEAR THE ALARM AND ITS TELLING YOU IT PICKS UP FLAMMABLE FUEL." THOSE ARE FIRE ALARMS ...

LIFE SAVING ALARMS ...THAT VARY FROM BOAT TO BOAT. JUSTIN COOPER-MONTEREY FIRE DIVISION CHIEF CLIP#2085618 00:16:17

NOT ALL BOATS ARE EQUIP WITH ALARMS DEPENDING ON THEIR AGE, THERE IS DIFFERENT REQUIREMEN FOR THE VESSEL, DEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF THE VESSEL BEACHHOPPER ALSO MAKES SURE WHEN EVERYONE IS ON BOARD THEY GO OVER BOAT SAFETY BEFORE GOING OUT.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

Thank you for this. I'm not too far from where this is happening and it looks like Ventura County Fire has responded and has given a fairly lengthy press conferences on ABC (it's available on youtube).

No way that the survivors (if any) are going to make it to Earl Warren Fairgrounds. This happened at 3 am, with some 30 people sleeping below deck (near or below the engine, which apparently exploded). Very very sad.

I'd like to point out that this wasn't an "excursion" (like a scuba diving excursion). These were professional divers, as I understand it. It's a really dangerous profession (abalone is very profitable), but not usually due to fire. Boat was built in 1981.

I don’t think anyone was scuba diving for abalone because it’s illegal to do so.

 

[BeachSky]

I imagine the most likely is that most if not all the remaining bodies are in the sleeping quarters, at the bottom of ocean.

I read on a dive message board that the boat was inverted, upside down on the ocean floor. Hope recovery is as soon as possible.

MOO

 

[PommyMommy]

New York Post on Twitter
'No escape' in tragic Santa Cruz boat fire https://trib.al/Tz7b9nr

11:43 PM - 2 Sep 2019

https://nypost.com/2019/09/02/no-es...w&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow
[...]

Four bodies were recovered in the waters off Santa Cruz Island on Monday afternoon, near where the doomed vessel, the Conception, had been anchored overnight.

Those victims — two men and two women — could not be identified due to the “conditions of the bodies,” authorities said, adding that DNA tests would have to be conducted.

It appeared the victims had drowned, officials said.

Four other bodies were located on the ocean floor 63 feet down, but divers were still trying to reach them on Monday night.

The other 26 victims were believed to be still inside the ravaged vessel, which had capsized and sunk.

[...]

 

[Lilibet]

Is there an MSM source that states this? One article linked upthread quotes a surviving crew member as telling their rescuers that a bunch of birthdays had been celebrated aboard the vessel on the previous evening, including that of a 17-year old girl who had been taken on the excursion by her parents, so I strongly suspect that the most, if not all, of the passengers were amateur divers rather than pros (though I’d not be surprised if there were a few pro divers on the vessel’s crew...).

This was definitely a pleasure trip, not just for professional divers. From the website description of the Labor Day Weekend trip:

On the Labor Day trip, divers have the unique opportunity to explore the pinnacles of San Miguel Island. The beginning of September is the best time to be at San Mig, which see strong winds and swell during much of the year. This rarely visited island is loaded with color: anemones, crabs, nudibranchs covering every inch of wall with a rainbow. Great for macro-photography. Nutrient rich waters bathing this island bring BIG fish: halibut, bugs, rockfish, wolfeels, lingcod. The precipitous geology at Boomerang, Skyscrapers, Richardson’s and Wilson’s Rock will blow you away. The island also hosts pristine shallow reefs hosting an incredibly diverse collection of sea life. Night dives are delightful; octopi roam the reefs and bioluminescent zooplankton flash colors to silhouette the diver. Other destinations may include Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara Islands.

Labor Day Weekend; Northern Channel Islands - Worldwide Diving Adventures

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Kristy Finstad: Dive Leader Feared Dead in Santa Cruz Boat Fire | Heavy.com

 

[Lilibet]

I don’t think anyone was scuba diving for abalone because it’s illegal to do so.

Yes it is illegal until 2021.

California abalone season sunk until 2021 to give stressed population time to rebuild

 

[imstilla.grandma]

This was definitely a pleasure trip, not just for professional divers. From the website description of the Labor Day Weekend trip:

On the Labor Day trip, divers have the unique opportunity to explore the pinnacles of San Miguel Island. The beginning of September is the best time to be at San Mig, which see strong winds and swell during much of the year. This rarely visited island is loaded with color: anemones, crabs, nudibranchs covering every inch of wall with a rainbow. Great for macro-photography. Nutrient rich waters bathing this island bring BIG fish: halibut, bugs, rockfish, wolfeels, lingcod. The precipitous geology at Boomerang, Skyscrapers, Richardson’s and Wilson’s Rock will blow you away. The island also hosts pristine shallow reefs hosting an incredibly diverse collection of sea life. Night dives are delightful; octopi roam the reefs and bioluminescent zooplankton flash colors to silhouette the diver. Other destinations may include Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara Islands.

Labor Day Weekend; Northern Channel Islands - Worldwide Diving Adventures

This is why I think there may be married or together bound couples aboard. Maybe even some bringing older children. moo

 

[Lilibet]

This is why I think there may be married or together bound couples aboard. Maybe even some bringing older children. moo

I agree. It’s really going to be awful to find out who died.

 

[BeachSky]

Chirbit [] Ventura County Fire Scanner Audio from Broadcastify.com

The Ventura County Fire Scanner audio of the distress call.
It’s longer than the news media clip

 

[imstilla.grandma]

JJ Lambert, 38, and his fiancée, Jenna Marsala, 33, of Santa Barbara, brought a red and white dive flag to the memorial. Lambert said he’d been on The Conception as a young diver.

Daniel Butts, 55, and his wife, Lisa Olsen, 54, said they saw The Conception getting loaded on Friday night during one of their regular walks around the Santa Barbara harbor.

“We thought, ‘Oh, that looks like it’s going to be a fun trip,’” Olsen said.

Butts said six or eight people were loading diving gear onto the boat as they chatted among themselves. The couple brought a bouquet of flowers on Monday evening to add to a growing memorial on the dock.

“We probably saw a few of the people that vanished in that fire,” Butts said. “Everybody who has a flag should be at half-mast in the harbor.”

Orlando Aldana, 42, of Santa Barbara, bought 34 candles to the memorial.

“I saw the flowers earlier when I here and I just felt like, ‘Well, it’s reaching nighttime,’” he said. “This is what us Latinos do, we light candles for our dead.”
8 killed in deadly California boat fire; 26 missing

 

[LAhiker]

Based on this LA Times article, it sounds like there may have been two ways to get out of the bunk room. But they may have been blocked by fire or obscured by smoke.

BBM:

"Before any guest begins a dive, Rausch said, the ship’s first captain completes an extensive safety briefing that covers the location of life jackets, deploying life boats, and the location of two bunk room exits, a ladder at the bow end and an escape hatch toward the stern. The briefing also discusses the alarms on board, as well as underwater alarms and notes the location of fire extinguishers.

The safety briefing, Rausch said, is done within the galley at the site of the escape hatch, a roughly two-feet by two-feet square plank of wood with no lock or latch on it. Below, the rows of bunks hold a maximum of 46 people, some in single or double beds stacked in threes."

California boat fire: 8 dead, at least 26 missing as officials prepare for the worst

 

[Dawookie]

Is there an MSM source that states this? One article linked upthread quotes a surviving crew member as telling their rescuers that a bunch of birthdays had been celebrated aboard the vessel on the previous evening, including that of a 17-year old girl who had been taken on the excursion by her parents, so I strongly suspect that the most, if not all, of the passengers were amateur divers rather than pros (though I’d not be surprised if there were a few pro divers on the vessel’s crew...).

Im wondering if some of them were taking a class and getting open water certified.

 

[BeachSky]

Based on this LA Times article, it sounds like there should have been two ways to get out of the bunk room. But they may have been blocked by fire or obscured by smoke.

BBM:

"Before any guest begins a dive, Rausch said, the ship’s first captain completes an extensive safety briefing that covers the location of life jackets, deploying life boats, and the location of two bunk room exits, a ladder at the bow end and an escape hatch toward the stern. The briefing also discusses the alarms on board, as well as underwater alarms and notes the location of fire extinguishers.

The safety briefing, Rausch said, is done within the galley at the site of the escape hatch, a roughly two-feet by two-feet square plank of wood with no lock or latch on it. Below, the rows of bunks hold a maximum of 46 people, some in single or double beds stacked in threes."

California boat fire: 8 dead, at least 26 missing as officials prepare for the worst

If you listen to the VC Fire scanner ...I posted upthread.
About at the half way point...
The Captain of the boat clearly says: “they can’t get out , no escape
hatch on board”

IMO the captain understood what the dispatcher meant by “can’t you
go back and unlock the door so they can get out”
If there was an escape hatch. Yes. It was either blocked by fire or destroyed by fire.

MOO

 

[Snoods]

Conception - Truth Aquatics
Bunk diagram

I read that all the passengers were in one room below - in bunks.
About - Truth Aquatics
Photos of bunk area from website

With only one narrow exit to escape to the top deck. I wonder if there was a pileup of everyone trying to escape at once from the only available exit.

(Dave Reid) said the sleeping area is comfortable but small with bunk beds stacked next to one another in a tight space on the vessel's lowest deck. Coming up to the top deck to get off requires navigating a narrow stairway with only one exit. If the fire was fast-moving, Reid said, it's very likely divers couldn't escape and the crew couldn't get to them.

8 killed in deadly California boat fire; 26 missing

 

[Snoods]

The May Day caller said there is no escape hatch for the people below deck.

In a mayday call alerting authorities to the fire aboard a boat in the Channel Islands off Ventura County early Monday, the caller said he could not breathe and that there was no escape hatch for 33 people below the deck.

'I can’t breathe.... there's no escape hatch': Dramatic mayday call from California boat on fire

 

[katydid23]

I remember hearing that, the people were "locked" in? WTH?! Do they lock down the doors at night? Shudder! Great, a raging fire, explosion, you wake up, run to the door, and you are LOCKED IN!!!

I don't think they were 'locked' in. I think they were 'blocked' in by the fire at the stairwell.

 

[LAhiker]

The May Day caller said there is no escape hatch for the people below deck.



'I can’t breathe.... there's no escape hatch': Dramatic mayday call from California boat on fire

He says that, but according to the LA times article, the escape hatch is in/near the galley. Which may have been where the fire started -- I don't think we know yet. JMO

 

[BeachSky]

Coast Guard: 25 bodies found after California boat fire

Update : 25 recovered / 9 still missing

This has got to be so hard on everyone involved.
JMO

 

[LAhiker]

Coast Guard: 25 bodies found after California boat fire

Update : 25 recovered / 9 still missing

This has got to be so hard on everyone involved.
JMO

This is horrible.