SANTA BARBARA, Calif. _ Nearly a year before 34 people were killed in a fire aboard the dive boat Conception, a second vessel owned by the same charter company began a three-day voyage around the Channel Islands.
Divers on the Vision charged numerous lithium-ion batteries installed in cameras, phones, computers and even underwater scooters with an array of power outlets in the salon area. At some point, one of those batteries began to smolder as it was charging. An alarmed crew member quickly tossed it into the water, preventing the fire from spreading, a witness and several sources told the Los Angeles Times.
The fire underscored the potential dangers of such batteries, which have been banned from cargo areas of commercial planes and become the subject of tighter regulations by the U.S. Navy.
But the U.S. Coast Guard didn't sound major alarms about the fire risk of the batteries until after the Labor Day fire aboard the Conception, the worst maritime disaster in modern California history.
Officials are still working to determine the cause of the fire, investigating whether it was arson, an electrical or battery fire or some sort of malfunction on the vessel. But some boat safety experts have pointed to the batteries _ which have become a staple for divers who use them to power underwater equipment such as lights, cameras and scooters _ as a possible starting point for the blaze.
Coast Guard inspectors in California didn't know about the previous fire aboard the Vision until The Times requested details about it this month.
"In hindsight, it would have been nice to know about it," Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll told The Times.
After the Conception fire, the Coast Guard for the first time recommended that owners of passenger vessels immediately urge crews "to reduce potential fire hazards and consider limiting the unsupervised charging of lithium-ion batteries and extensive use of power strips and extension cords."
Glen Fritzler, whose Truth Aquatics firm owns both the Conception and the Vision, believes the batteries were the cause of the Conception disaster.
"I'm telling you the batteries are the issue, and we were never warned," Fritzler said in an emailed statement to The Times. "I have had top level professional photographers dive with me and they did not understand the dangers."
Fritzler and his attorney declined to comment further about the fires aboard the Vision or the Conception, citing the ongoing investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S Coast Guard and the FBI. He also declined to comment on why his company didn't report the earlier fire to authorities. Operators are not required to report fires that cause less than $75,000 in damage.
A preliminary investigation of the Conception fire found major breakdowns in required safety procedures on the vessel owned by Truth Aquatics, including inadequate crew training and the absence of a roving night watch at all times while passenger bunks are occupied to alert passengers below deck of an emergency.
Truth Aquatics has also come under scrutiny for how it handled battery charging on boats. Divers who used the Conception previously told The Times that the operator used numerous extension cords to handle the high demand for power to charge various devices.
Passengers often angled for limited charging outlets nestled behind foam-filled, L-shaped benches in the salon areas to power strobe lights, cameras, flashlights and video power packs.
"Stuff is plugged in everywhere," said Ben Wolfe, a retired Los Angeles County fire captain.
