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

[Inthedetails]

I think she’s all those things, but since her company teaches scuba diving, and she’s very organized, I figured she would be in charge of the whole dive. The Truth Aquatics boats are used for other purposes besides dives, although they are designed for dive trips. But they don’t list a dive master on the crew. I guess we’ll find out eventually.

Makes sense. And, it was likely a dream job for her.

jmo

 

[Dawookie]

This link has a section about the crew of each boat. Including the captain there are five crewmen.
About - Truth Aquatics

I don’t see a “dive master” listed as crew so I assume that whoever charters the boat for a dive provides their own. I believe Kristy Finstad probably fulfilled that role on this trip. She and her husband Dan Chua ran the dive company. He is currently leading a dive group in Costa Rica, according to reports.
Kristy Finstad - Worldwide Diving Adventures

That's correct. The group who charters will provide the dive master and if they are getting open water certified, an instructor as well.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Photos: At least 25 dead in California dive boat fire

SDFR confirmed that three people on the boat, and two firefighters, were transported to local hospitals to be checked for smoke inhalation.

Early indications in an investigation into the cause of the recreational motor boat fire suggested it may have been electrical in nature.
5 Treated For Smoke Inhalation In San Diego Boat Fire

'I'm just trembling': Vancouver-based scuba diver says California boat fire has given her much to think about

Firefighter Mental Health Resources

 

[PommyMommy]

CNN Breaking News on Twitter
Twenty bodies have been recovered after Monday's fatal boat fire near California's Santa Cruz Island, authorities say. As many as 14 people are still missing. https://cnn.it/2k0sMVm

7:24 AM - 3 Sep 2019

Saul Gonzalez on Twitter
The Truth, which is docked in Santa Barbara, is the sister vessel of the boat that caught fire and sank off of Santa Cruz Island. No additional survivors found. #KQED

7:28 AM - 3 Sep 2019

 

[LAhiker]

The most recent LA Times article gives a little more detail about the location of exits from the bunk area. An earlier article said that a safety orientation would have been conducted in the galley near the escape hatch. Maybe both exits were blocked by fire or obscured by smoke?

"At the bow end of the bunk room was a curving staircase that led up to the galley area. Toward the stern, an escape hatch was situated above one of the bunks and led to the salon deck, which included the galley.

“It’s on a ceiling of the bunk room or the floor of the galley,” said Bruce Rausch, 69, a veteran dive master in Orange County and a retired San Onofre nuclear engineer who’d been on more than a dozen dive trips aboard the Conception. “All you have to do is get up to a bunk and keep going up and you use the bunk as ladders.”"

Once the fire started, it was too late for many on board the Conception

JMO

 

[Betty P]

View attachment 202089
Photos: At least 25 dead in California dive boat fire

SDFR confirmed that three people on the boat, and two firefighters, were transported to local hospitals to be checked for smoke inhalation.

Early indications in an investigation into the cause of the recreational motor boat fire suggested it may have been electrical in nature.
5 Treated For Smoke Inhalation In San Diego Boat Fire

'I'm just trembling': Vancouver-based scuba diver says California boat fire has given her much to think about

Firefighter Mental Health Resources

I think the article about 5 Treated for Smoke Inhalation, etc.. was about a different boat fire, one in San Diego. That's much farther south down the coast. Just a little assistance, it's an easy article to mistake for the other accident. Labor Day weekend in So Cal probably sees a lot of boat accidents, etc.

 

[Betty P]

CNN Breaking News on Twitter
Twenty bodies have been recovered after Monday's fatal boat fire near California's Santa Cruz Island, authorities say. As many as 14 people are still missing. https://cnn.it/2k0sMVm

7:24 AM - 3 Sep 2019

Saul Gonzalez on Twitter
The Truth, which is docked in Santa Barbara, is the sister vessel of the boat that caught fire and sank off of Santa Cruz Island. No additional survivors found. #KQED

7:28 AM - 3 Sep 2019

Wow, the divers are really working hard to retrieve the bodies of those poor victims. They probably feel its personal, helping others in the diving community. Bless them. Such a terrible tragedy, but so much kindness shown by others.

 

[happyday]

Honestly it sounds like it wouldn’t have even mattered if there were six or seven exits up and out of there. The fire seems like it was so sudden and massive that short of a door underneath opening into the water (obviously not sensible) there was nowhere for them to go.

Hopefully this tragedy will force an examination of basic common sense on boats like this. This company seems like it followed the rules and met safety requirements, and I’m sure many diving operations are pretty much operating the same way. Putting that many people below deck with one way out has worked so far, but is it safe or sensible? I don’t know what all flammable materials were on board, but if that had anything to do with this it should be re-examined as well IMO. Just because usually something this horrific doesn’t occur doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be anticipated. People tend to become complacent when things go fine for a while even when common sense would tell anyone that this was a nonsensical setup.
Just so sad all those people had to die. I just hope this tragedy forces change.

 

[Cryptic]

"At the bow end of the bunk room was a curving staircase that led up to the galley area. Toward the stern, an escape hatch was situated above one of the bunks and led to the salon deck, which included the galley.

“It’s on a ceiling of the bunk room or the floor of the galley,” said Bruce Rausch, 69, a veteran dive master in Orange County and a retired San Onofre nuclear engineer who’d been on more than a dozen dive trips aboard the Conception. “All you have to do is get up to a bunk and keep going up and you use the bunk as ladders.”"

Though he has expertise as a dive master and a nuclear engineer, he does not understand crowd crushes very well. In short, the "all" that he describes can be a lot.

In this case, people who had never physically drilled on using that escape method and knew about it only in theory would need to identify where the hatch is and open it, use an in-efficient "ladder" to escape one, perhaps two at a time in an orderly manner from a cramped environment rapidly filling with smoke and fire.

This is a good receipe for a fatal crowd crush at the "escape" route.

Then consider the type of population who perished. My bet is that recreational and professional divers as a group are likely to be physically fit, accustomed to following instructions, and have received specific anti panic / problem solving under stress training. Yet, not even some of them could escape. This alone shows that the “all” is a big “all”.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

One of the people missing after a devastating boat fire in the Channel Islands has been identified, her brother, Brett Harmeling, told the Los Angeles Times.

Kristy Finstad, a 41-year-old marine biologist, was helping to lead a scuba diving expedition aboard the boat, Harmeling told the newspaper.

“No final word on my sister Kristy; however, it is likely she has transitioned to be with the good Lord,” Harmeling wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday morning.
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/california/article234656042.html

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 3, 2019
Santa Cruz school says two students were on board boat that caught fire
Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz says two of its students and one of the students parents were on board the boat that caught fire in Southern California.

The school sent a letter to students, parents and staff Monday night saying, "Our hearts are with these two PCS families, and we hope and pray that they are found safe".

There is no word on whether they survived.

[...]

Jobina Fortson on Twitter
Just spoke with the head of school at Pacific Collegiate School. She confirmed students were onboard the deadly boat fire in Southern California. Grief counselors are at the school today

7:26 AM - 3 Sep 2019

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A crew member’s girlfriend, a teenager who had just celebrated her 17th birthday and the girl’s parents are reportedly among the 34 people presumed dead after a boat caught fire off the Channel Islands early Monday morning. [New York Post]

Teen, family, birthday revelers among 34 presumed dead in boat fire - Cal Coast Times

California boat fire: Rescuers face psychological toll as they recover bodies

KGO-TV, this news organization’s media partner, reported a Pacific Collegiate School official confirmed Tuesday that multiple students were on the boat, and said grief counselors were on the campus today.

A woman who answered the phone at Pacific Collegiate School on Tuesday morning said she was not authorized to release any information, saying, “Right now our priority is to support students and staff.”

School officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The public charter school for grades 7 through 12 often ranks among the top high schools in California.
Report: Santa Cruz high school students aboard dive boat in deadly fire – Santa Cruz Sentinel

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 3, 2019
Probe Continues Into What Ignited Deadly Fire on Dive Boat Near Santa Cruz Island
[...]

The cause has yet to be determined, but regardless of what sparked and fueled the fire, this much is clear: Once it started, it was too late for most of those on board to safely escape.

“This is probably the worst-case scenario you could possibly have,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said Monday, noting the boat’s remote location and the time of day — about 3:15 a.m. — when the passengers were probably asleep.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 3, 2019
Searchers look for 9 missing in California boat fire, 25 die
[...]

Divers and search crews were still looking Tuesday for nine missing people after at least 25 were confirmed dead when a boat packed with scuba divers caught fire near an island off the Southern California coast.

[...]

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll said late Monday night at least 25 people died. He said 20 bodies were recovered and five others were found but not retrieved due to unsafe conditions under the boat, which sank in about 60 feet (18 meters) of water.

Kroll said the count of those found was based on initial reports and needed to be confirmed through autopsies.

The search for the missing went through the night and fog and low clouds on Tuesday were not expected to limit the search crews in their efforts, said Santa Barbara City Fire Department spokeswoman Amber Anderson

Five crew members sleeping on the top deck jumped off and took a dinghy to safety. Two had minor injuries. A sixth crew member was among the missing

[...]

 

[Herat]

Yes, divers have to be physically and mentally fit. They have to be responsible and be self-driven for their own safety. All sorts practices in diving are set up for conservative safety. These are all people that would follow directions very well.

So maybe just having a safety briefing showing them an escape hatch isn't enough. Any dive boats should probably be having drills where people are forced to evacuate from their beds.

It's amazing this kind of catastrophe hasn't apparently been reported before. There are dive boat trips all over the world, some of which in countries have have rather lax regulations, and likely have boats that are not as well-maintained as Conception.

 

[IceIce9]

The scenario that makes the most sense to me is that everyone under deck was asleep and became unconscious due to smoke inhalation.
But I wonder, wouldn’t at least one person have been awake, been able to smell smoke or see flames, or hear the commotion that was going on above?

I know that I don’t sleep well in places away from home, especially when I have slept in a dorm-style arrangement similar to these sleeping conditions. It seems likely that at least one person out of 29 would have been awake.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Santa Cruz Students And Parents Among The Victims Of Boat Fire

 

[PommyMommy]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Current and former staff at a Stockton hospital are among those feared dead after Monday's boat fire off the Southern California coast.

Evan Quitasol, a nurse at St. Joseph's Medical Center, was on board the Conception, hospital officials confirmed Tuesday.

Two former long-term staff members, Michael Quitasol, who was Evan’s father, and Fernisa Sison were also on board.
Current, former Stockton hospital staff on boat that went up in flames