The U.S. Coast Guard issued interim fire safety rules for small passenger vessels in response to the deadly Conception dive boat fire in Santa Barbara County.
The Santa Barbara-based boat was anchored off Santa Cruz Island on Sept. 2, 2019, when a fire broke out on board and eventually sunk the vessel.
The 33 passengers and one crew member sleeping below deck were all killed, and the crew members above deck were able to jump overboard and escape the blaze.
Interim rules, which go into effect in March, add fire safety requirements for small passenger vessels, including fire detection and suppression systems, multiple avenues of escape, egress drills, crew firefighter training, devices to monitor whether crews are conducting the required roving patrols, and how to handle flammable items such as rechargeable batteries.
Federal investigators determined that the probable cause of the fire and boat sinking was the failure by owner/operator Truth Aquatics to provide effective oversight of its vessel and crew, including requirements to maintain a roving patrol. That failure allowed a fire to grow, undetected, on the main deck, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in 2020.
The lack of a Coast Guard requirement for smoke detectors in all accommodation spaces also contributed to the growth of the blaze, the NTSB determined.
As Noozhawk reported at the time of the NTSB report, the Conception had smoke detectors in the below-deck bunk area, but they were not connected to one another or the wheelhouse, and no smoke detectors were in the salon, the common area above the sleeping quarters where investigators believe the fire ignited.
Many of the NTSB’s recommendations are included in the Coast Guard’s interim rules, including the requirement for small vessels to have smoke detectors in all accommodation areas and for vessels with overnight trips to have interconnected smoke detectors, so one detector alerts the rest of the detectors.
The Coast Guard interim rules also will require small passenger vessels with overnight accommodation to have a secondary means of escape into a different area than the primary exit, so a single fire will not impact both escape routes. That was the case on the Conception, since the stairs and emergency hatch both led to the salon compartment that was on fire.
A federal grand jury indicted Conception captain Jerry Boylan on manslaughter charges, and that criminal case is being heard in federal court in Los Angeles. He is accused of “misconduct, negligence and inattention to his duties.”
Families of the Conception dive boat fire victims filed a civil suit related to the blaze against the Coast Guard last year.
In the announcement of the rules, the Coast Guard said: “The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted an investigation of the incident and stated in its Marine Accident Report that ‘the probable cause of the accident on board the SPV Conception was the failure of Truth Aquatics Inc. to provide effective oversight of its vessel and crewmember operations, including requirements to ensure that a roving patrol was maintained, which allowed a fire of unknown cause to grow, undetected, in the vicinity of the aft salon on the main deck.’ The NTSB determined that other contributing causes were inadequate smoke detection and inadequate egress arrangements. While the cause of the fire remains unknown, potential sources of ignition noted by the NTSB include malfunctioning lithium-ion batteries and overloading electrical circuits due to excessively connecting a series of rechargeable devices together using a single connection.”
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
