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What Caused Fire on M/V Conception?
Military News ^ | 5 September 2019 | Hannah Fry and

Posted on 09/05/2019 3:36:44 PM PDT by atc23

LOS ANGELES — One of the crew members aboard the dive boat Conception hadn’t been asleep long when a noise jolted him awake.

He swung open the door of the wheelhouse — the top level of the 75-foot boat, located just above the galley — and was greeted by flames.

As the fire raged in the predawn hours of Labor Day, the vessel’s captain made a frantic mayday call to the Coast Guard. Then he and four crew members jumped from the wheelhouse and climbed into a dinghy to get help from the Grape Escape, a fishing boat anchored nearby off Santa Cruz Island.

Once aboard, the crew member who had been jolted awake shook as he recounted the horrific story to Grape Escape owner Shirley Hansen. His theory, Hansen said, was that the fire started in the galley, where cellphones and cameras had been plugged in to charge overnight.

(Excerpt) Read more at militarynews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: battery; cause; conception; divingboat; fire; fireatsea; lithium; lithiumbattery; maritime; santacruzisland; scuba; shipboardfire; tragedy; uscg
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To: Moonman62
Seems to me the crew has one job which is to keep passengers safe.

Who is responsible for your personal safety? You are. Nobody else - you. If you aren’t comfortable with the risk of your chosen recreation or sport, whether it’s motor racing, boxing, mountain climbing or being near man eating animals - a person should choose something else to do for fun.

All of us know the risk of sudden death is near while diving. We do it anyway. All of us know the boat can sink from collision , fire, storms or whatever. Yet we will still book these trips because the reward far outweighs the risk.

Somedays you eat the bear and somedays the bear eats you.

61 posted on 09/05/2019 6:04:35 PM PDT by atc23
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To: ifinnegan; MinuteGal

“That’s the problem.
They let a fire start and didn’t notice, they claim, until it was “too late”.
So they bailed.”

Stop it. Stop blaming the crew. The fire started somewhere below them and there was nothing they could do, unless you believe they should all have foregone escaping the flames, and should have gone down with the ship.

You are advocating that they too, merely by virtue of having been lucky enough to have been on the top of the boat, as they were the crew, for heaven’s sake, should have just stayed on the boat longer and have become crispy critters also even though they were able to escape by acting fast and jumping off a towering inferno.

This scapegoating of the crew sickens me. It makes a horrible story even worse because of jerks like you looking for someone to blame, just like the Dems always do. Everyone is a victim, and the blame game begins. Can it.


62 posted on 09/05/2019 6:11:06 PM PDT by flaglady47 (Trump 2020, 2024, 2028, ad infinitum)
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To: antidemoncrat
Then he and four crew members jumped from the wheelhouse and climbed into a dinghy to get help from the Grape Escape, a fishing boat anchored nearby off Santa Cruz Island.”

What’s wrong with that?

63 posted on 09/05/2019 6:16:24 PM PDT by atc23
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To: Rio

re: “I lost my shop building to lithium batteries (cordless drill) two summers ago.”

3rd party batteries - what were the circumstances?

I’ve been working with some Li-Ion batts the last few years, and abused a few pairs doing some laboratory testing of new chargers, and those cells did not burn ...

I did find one cell from another set that came from a laptop batt pack that ‘self-warmed’ and discharged itself slowly after being charged above 4.1 volts ...


64 posted on 09/05/2019 6:20:15 PM PDT by _Jim (Save babies)
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To: flaglady47
Stop it. Stop blaming the crew. The fire started somewhere below them and there was nothing they could do, unless you believe they should all have foregone escaping the flames, and should have gone down with the ship. You are advocating that they too, merely by virtue of having been lucky enough to have been on the top of the boat, as they were the crew, for heaven’s sake, should have just stayed on the boat longer and have become crispy critters also even though they were able to escape by acting fast and jumping off a towering inferno. This scapegoating of the crew sickens me. It makes a horrible story even worse because of jerks like you looking for someone to blame, just like the Dems always do. Everyone is a victim, and the blame game begins. Can it.

Seriously- it’s like DU with some on here. It’s like they personally dislike people they have never met to the point of accusing them of manslaughter.

It’s sick, twisted and flat out weird.

65 posted on 09/05/2019 6:21:32 PM PDT by atc23
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To: ifinnegan
Crew seems to have left them to die.

It's remarkable. None of the stories I've seen make any mention of attempts by the crew to evacuate the passengers before abandoning ship themselves.

66 posted on 09/05/2019 6:27:25 PM PDT by Tom in SFCA
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To: flaglady47

Sorry, but, it’s what it is.

They have one job and one job only. The safety of the passengers.


67 posted on 09/05/2019 6:36:20 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Tom in SFCA
It's remarkable. None of the stories I've seen make any mention of attempts by the crew to evacuate the passengers before abandoning ship themselves.

That tells you that the boat, and especially the boat areas with access to the bunk room was completely engulfed in an uncontrollable fire very, very quickly. That we can say for sure. It’s quite likely that the passengers had succumbed to smoke inhalation long before (a minute or two) the crew abandoned the bridge and the boat. Especially if the fire started in the bunk room as per the boat designer’s theory. We may never know where the fire started. Everything is ash.

68 posted on 09/05/2019 6:37:32 PM PDT by atc23
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To: atc23

They used to call such berthing arrangements “steerage”.

If any of your ancestors arrived in the Colonies during the 18th century give thanks to God that you are alive.


69 posted on 09/05/2019 7:03:37 PM PDT by lightman (Byzantine Troparia: The "praise choruses" of antiquity.)
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To: SauronOfMordor

That is what I heard on my local news. That perhaps there was a bad lithium battery that simply exploded.


70 posted on 09/05/2019 7:08:22 PM PDT by Patriot Babe
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To: weps4ret

When my Dad owned a cabin cruiser, CNG was the cooking gas recommended by UL.

Not as hot as propane but lighter than air. And always run the bilge blower before lighting the stove or starting the engine, especially if gasoline powered.

Prayers for those poor souls.


71 posted on 09/05/2019 7:31:40 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam.")
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To: lightman
And steerage is where small, smoldering fires started due to bales of manure stored below decks would get too hot and combust.

After a time, it became mandatory to mark the bales - S.H.I.T - for Store High In Transit

72 posted on 09/05/2019 7:36:35 PM PDT by atc23
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To: atc23

I keep saying your cell phone is going to kill you, one way or the other, not to say what it is doing to Western Civilization.


73 posted on 09/05/2019 8:41:49 PM PDT by wetgundog
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To: atc23

If a bunch of rechargeable devices are next to each other on a self being charged and one ignites could there be a chain reaction where more would also ignite?


74 posted on 09/05/2019 10:29:17 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: fella
If a bunch of rechargeable devices are next to each other on a self being charged and one ignites could there be a chain reaction where more would also ignite?

You bet. They’d probably rupture due to heat from the burning one if they made contact. These video light batteries aren’t the little coin type batteries. These batteries and packs would be much larger. If that were to happen below I n the bunk room. . . .

75 posted on 09/05/2019 10:48:22 PM PDT by atc23
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To: atc23
Seriously- it’s like DU with some on here. It’s like they personally dislike people they have never met to the point of accusing them of manslaughter.

It’s sick, twisted and flat out weird.

Yep, been watching here for years, and there are a few FReepers that consistently post very strange and negative things. The one I suspect you speak of is a prime example.

76 posted on 09/05/2019 11:14:40 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: CivilWarBrewing

Re: No screams or calls for help were heard by the crew...

Thanks for the update.

34 terrified people can make a lot of noise.

There needs to be a convincing explanation for why that did not happen.

Unfortunately, 99% of the evidence has been burnt to a crisp, then soaked in sea water.


77 posted on 09/06/2019 3:01:52 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: flaglady47
Brava !

Leni

78 posted on 09/06/2019 6:59:51 AM PDT by MinuteGal ( MAGA ! ! !....MAGA ! ! !....MAGA ! ! !)
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To: atc23

Most of the time the crew of an airplane or boat have a responsibility to protect their passengers at risk of their own livee. It sounds like this crew including the captain just abandoned the ship without even trying to fight the fire. Could they have not, at least, hauled in buckets of water and doused the opening for the crew quarters. Did they have any equipment to fight a fire and did they use it? No mentions has been made, that I’ve read, as to what caused the fire or how fast it spread.


79 posted on 09/06/2019 7:33:13 AM PDT by antidemoncrat
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To: HighSierra5

I’ve worked on six and sailed on several dozen head boats in the Pt. Judith RI to Cape May NJ area and every one did all cooking with electricity.

Also, the term “galley” on these boats was not limited to the cooking area but described the entire main deck enclosure except for heads.


80 posted on 09/06/2019 7:36:51 AM PDT by Roccus (When you talk to a politician...ANY politician...always say, "Remember Ceausescu")
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