Los Angeles Times - 08.09.2019

A10 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 S LATIMES.COM

and the chairman of a Na-
tional Fire Protection Assn.
committee on commercial
and pleasure boat fire pro-
tection, called the Concep-
tion “a compliant fire trap.”
“What bothers me is that
the vessel was inspected by a
Coast Guardsman within
the last 12 months,” said
McDevitt, who thinks the
design of emergency exits
was problematic. “This boat
has been checked by the
Coast Guard for 40 years al-
most.”
The Conception was one
of three “live-aboard” dive
boats operated out of Santa
Barbara Harbor by Truth
Aquatics Inc., which has
been in business since 1974
and is now owned by Glen
Fritzler. He declined The
Times’ requests for an inter-
view, but has defended his
crew members’ actions in
trying to save the doomed
passengers.
Fritzler said in a state-
ment that he is working with
National Transportation
Safety Board investigators
and is “committed to finding
accurate answers as quickly
as possible.” He also said he
and his family are “utterly
crushed” by the accident.
“My family and I are
speaking today with ex-
tremely heavy hearts,” he
said. “No words will ease the
pain that loved ones are feel-
ing. We extend our deepest
condolences to all those in-
volved in this horrific trage-
dy.”
The Conception was
built in Long Beach in 1981,
designed by its original
owner and the company’s
long-retired founder, Roy
Hauser, specifically for mul-
tiday dive trips.
“I designed the entire lay-
out of the vessel,” Hauser
said. “I drew it out a quarter
inch to the foot and then
gave it to a marine architect.
They put together the final
Coast Guard papers, if you
will. Glen has all the plans
and they are all stamped ‘ap-
proved.’ ... Everything you
do has to be approved by the
Coast Guard.”
Hauser said Fritzler had
kept the boat in “immacu-
late” condition and he de-
fended its design character-
istics as “absolutely” safe.
He noted that many of its
features are common to Cal-
ifornia dive and fishing
boats, an assertion backed
by others in the industry.
Ken Kurtis, a veteran
California diver and instruc-
tor whose Reef Seekers Dive
Co. has organized trips since
1988, said he’d been aboard
the Conception many times.
He described its three-
level design as very similar
to that of other such boats:
sleeping quarters below
deck, a main deck that in-
cludes a covered galley
toward the bow with open-
air dive area at the stern,
and the wheelhouse with the
captain’s controls at the top.
Kurtis said there was
nothing extraordinary
about the 75-foot boat’s
combination of double- and
triple-stacked bunks, or its
passenger limit of 46 — the
count was 13 below that ca-
pacity when the fire broke
out.
“Passenger loads vary by
the size of the vessel,” he
said. “They had on this one
33 passengers. That’s a nor-
mal number for a dive boat.
Most of the big dive boats
are 30 to 35 and they are all
designed pretty much the
same way, with the bunks at
the bottom, the galley and
salon in the middle, and the
wheelhouse on top.”
Chris Barry, chairman
of the Society of Naval Archi-
tects and Marine Engineers’
small craft technical and
research committee, agreed
that the Conception’s struc-
ture and cramped sleeping
quarters were not unusual.
Some California divers
have dubbed the popular
configuration a “cattle boat”
style of excursion, because
of the tight space and lack of
staterooms and other cabin
amenities.
“The people who are on
these dive boats are just
crashing below,” Barry said.
“These aren’t luxury state-
rooms. All they want to do is
crash and sleep — they don’t
need a lot of luxury and
there’s obviously a trade-off
between the amount of
space per person and the
cost.”
The crowded quarters
might “look a little rough”
but they are “absolutely
legal,” he said, noting that

sailors on Coast Guard cut-

ters also sleep in three-high

bunks.

“There’s nothing that un-

usual about the vessel,” he

said.

The fact that no passen-

gers below deck escaped has

focused attention on the

bunk room’s exits. The

stairs in the sleeping quar-

ters led to the galley. The es-

cape hatch over bunks in the

rear of the room opened up

into

a dining area adjacent to

the galley and just a few

feet from the open-air dive

deck.

Officials have said fire

blocked both exits.

“I definitely have con-

cerns about the ability of

those passengers being able

to evacuate during a fire,”

NTSB board member Jenni-

fer Homendy told The

Times last week.

Homendy said she was

“taken aback” by the size

and location of the emer-

gency hatch when she

toured the Conception’s sis-

ter ship the Vision, which

has a nearly identical de-

sign.

“You have to climb up a

ladder and across the top

bunk and then push a wood-

en door up,” she said. “It was

a tight space. ... It surprised

me how small it was and how

difficult it was to access.”

The vessel appears to

meet current federal regula-

tions, which require boats

such as the Conception to

have “at least two means of

escape,” including stairways

and emergency hatches.

“The two required means

of escape must be widely

separated and, if possible, at

opposite ends of the space to

minimize the possibility of

one incident blocking both

escapes,” the regulation

states, noting also that exits

must be “sufficient for rapid

evacuation in an emer-

gency.”

It’s not clear if passen-

gers ever had a chance to try

to escape. Santa Barbara

County Sheriff Bill Brown,

who is also the coroner, said

smoke inhalation is the

likely cause of death.

Still, McDevitt, the mar-

ine surveyor who also is a

Coast Guard-certified cap-

tain, said that the design of

the boat was flawed. He

questioned why both egress

points — the stairwell and

the hatch — deposited pas-

sengers into the galley and

adjacent dining area.

“When you put two exits

into the same common area,

you are not providing two

means of egress — it’s still

only one,” he said. “You are

exiting into the galley and

common area.”

He said that irrespective

of the minimum standards,

the volume of passengers

seemed to call for more exit

passages. McDevitt sug-

gested adding “another

hatch, and maybe a bigger

hatch,” but noted that op-

tions would be limited on a

boat of that age. “You don’t

want to make a boat less sea-

worthy, so you can’t put

hatches in the side,” he said.

“If they built that boat today,

they could do more. .... When

you put people down there in

that dungeon, it’s got to be

watertight.”

Paul Kamen, a forensic

naval architect and mechan-

ical engineer based in Berke-

ley, said he thought the size

of the roughly 2-feet-square

escape hatch was adequate,

but he also questioned plac-

ing both points of exit in the

galley and nearby dining

area.

“The common areas for

fire to start are the galley or

the engine room, so there’s

always one [other] escape

route. Whatever one is on

fire, you go out the other

way,” he said. “The problem

here is, both escape routes

went through the galley, and

you lost that redundancy

when the galley is engulfed

in flames.”

Kamen had no problem

with the boat’s passenger

capacity, agreeing that

many divers “would think

it’s cool to be stuffed in an en-

vironment like that — it’s a

connection with the tradi-

tions of the sea to be in a

triple-high bunk bed with

30 other people.”

He said he is more in-

trigued by the fire’s rapid

growth.

“The big mystery is why

the fire propagated so far

and so fast,” Kamen said. “I

don’t think ... wood furnish-

ings in the passenger cabin

really explain it.”

Expert calls boat ‘compliant fire trap’

[Conception,from A1]

Counter

Sources: Truth Aquatics, Times reporting. Graphics reporting by Matt Hamilton, Kim Christiansen, Susanne Rust

Kyle Kim, Lorena Iñiguez Elebee Los Angeles Times

What we know about the

Conception’s escape routes

The dive boat Conception caught fire off Santa Cruz Island on Monday morning in the deadliest maritime disaster in

modern California history. As investigators try to find the cause, the boat’s design and escape routes are drawing

scrutiny.

What we know

• The 33 passengers and one crew
  member believed to be sleeping
  below deck all died.


• The five crew members above deck
  all survived.


• Survivors say they encountered a

fire that could not be stopped and

then abandoned the ship.

• Investigators have suggested the
  boat had serious safety flaws.


• Local authorities believe the
  victims died of smoke inhalation.

What we don’t know

• What caused the fire and where did it start?


• Why were the passengers unable to escape?


• What was the extent of the fire in the
  sleeping quarters below deck?

‘The best of its kind’

Only two ways out

The 75-foot dive boat was

custom made in 1981 by a

shipbuilder in Long Beach

and had ferried scuba divers

touring the Channel Islands

from its home port in Santa

Barbara for decades.

Its final voyage started Aug.

31 for a Labor Day cruise

with 33 passengers and a

crew of six.

The boat had three levels —

the lowest level with bunk

beds and showers, a main

deck with a covered galley

toward the front, and a top

deck where the ship was

steered.

Authorities believe all passengers and a single crew member

were asleep in bunk beds on the ship’s lowest level at the

time of the fire.

The lead investigator probing the disaster expressed concerns about the escape routes out of the Conception’s lowest level.

Here’s what we know:

The beds were under the galley, a covered area at the center

of the main deck with a kitchen, dining area and bathrooms.

Lower level

Bunks, showers

Main deck

Kitchen, dining area

Upper level

Wheelhouse

Layouts of the boat are schematic.

Lower level

Lower level

Main deck

Main deck

Shower

room

Engine room

Outdoor area

Restroom

Restroom

Stairs to

lower level

Bunk beds

Closet

Kitchen

Bunk room

Dining area

Dining tables

Escape

hatch

Escape

hatch

Stairs

Stairs

Both led up to the same area:

the covered galley.

There were two ways in and

out of the bunk room on the

lower level of the ship — a

spiral staircase near the

front and an escape hatch

above the rear bunks.

1

2

3 According to federal

investigators, a crew member

who attempted to rescue

passengers found the galley

area “engulfed in flames,”

with no way in or out.

‘All they want to do is crash and sleep — they don’t need a lot of luxury and there’s obviously a

trade-off between the amount of space per person and the cost.’

—CHRISBARRY, Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, on the passengers on dive boats

THE CONCEPTIONwas a 75-foot boat housing double- and triple-stacked bunks with a 46-passenger limit.

Don Barthelmess