Polyethylene trash cans are a known fire risk, and new Subchapter T boats are required to have noncombustible waste receptacles in all compartments. Conception was an older vessel and was exempt from this standard.
Captain Jerry Boylan is scheduled to go on trial next month.
I re-read that statement multiple times, and I’m hoping the author just left out the may…as in “may have started in a trash can”.
The author of the post or the author of the LA Times article? Both are based on the same report.
anyone from the USCG?
Yeah, something is missing. The contents of the trash cans may have been combustible, the trash can itself may have been combustible, and both were in an open space. So we have fuel and oxygen but no mention of oily rags or other heat source to complete the triangle.
Because the all knowing government agency has a time machine + teleporter to place them back at the scene of the tragedy to record it with their smart phone?
Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) built a full-scale mock-up of the middle deck of the 75-foot vessel in their quest to determine the fire’s point of origin and cause. They conducted a series of burn tests at their Maryland research lab, which concluded the blaze began in a rubbish container and then quickly spread. Within minutes, the boat’s main salon was in flames, the testing showed.
The article in Marine Executive adds this detail:
A crewmember, Mickey Kohls, told investigators that he had dumped four small trash bins into the Rubbermaid polyethylene trash can located underneath the ladder. The time of this chore was about 0235 on the morning of the casualty. Kohls was awakened at 0312, 37 minutes later, by the sound of a fire on the deck below.
I suppose the article in the OP could have used 'likely". Evidence was found that the fire started in the trash bin, no evidence was found that it was started in a different location.
What started it?
Well I guess our choices are cigarette, or …idk. Now if I was a surviving crew member who killed 34 people bc I threw a cigarette in the trash, I don’t think I would want to come forward.
EDIT: On the other hand who on a boat throws a cig in the trash. You care enough about the environment not to just toss it overboard, but are lazy enough that you toss into the trash? I guess we’ll never know
That could be a piece of the puzzle. Someone could have thrown a small rechargeable battery in the trash before turning in. They have been known to self-combust.
Truly tragic. There was an emergency exit hatch. Was it blocked? There is much information that needs to come out in the trial.
It was tiny and not easy to get through.
Yes, and both exits were to the same space, which was on fire.
Yes, that exited into the galley where the fire started supposedly.
OUCH! Thanks.
not “supposedly”, it’s a FACT, because the .gov report says so. In the galley, in the trashcan!
All determined somehow by looking at a boat wreckage that was basically burnt to the waterline. But yeah…all facts!
I may have misread the last article about the crew member talking about the trash can, but i thought it was a trash can aft of the galley near the door.
Either way, fire in a trash can outside the galley that spread or a fire caused by the excessive amount of shit plugged into an electrical outlet inside the galley, the galley/salon had one way in and out and the bunkroom had no way in or out without going thru the galley. Those poor people didn’t have a chance.
Photo of trash bin on the main deck. (NTSB)
From Marine Executive:
A crewmember, Mickey Kohls, told investigators that he had dumped four small trash bins into the Rubbermaid polyethylene trash can located underneath the ladder. The time of this chore was about 0235 on the morning of the casualty. Kohls was awakened at 0312, 37 minutes later, by the sound of a fire on the deck below.
LA Times Article is here: Conception boat fire that killed 34 people started in plastic trash can, confidential report says
The report, authored by ATF Special Agent Derek J. Hill in January 2021, concluded that “after conducting a systematic fire scene examination, reviewing witness statements, examining pre-fire and fire photographs and videos, and conducting test fires, by inspecting physical evidence, interpreting fire patterns, considering fire dynamics,” agents determined “the fire originated in the garbage container located under the staircase.”
Only a .gov employee would speak with such certainty.