The deadly inferno aboard the Conception dive boat started in a plastic trash can, the Los Angeles Times reported in a front-page story published on the four-year anniversary of the disaster that claimed the lives of 34 off the coast of Santa Barbara.
The revelation comes from a confidential report prepared by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) investigators, who reconstructed the vessel’s middle deck to determine the fire’s point of origin. Their tests in a Maryland research lab in 2021, the Times’ Richard Winton reported, concluded that the blaze began in the trash can on the main deck and rapidly engulfed the boat’s main salon.
The fire occurred before dawn on September 2, 2019, while the Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island at the tail end of a three-day dive trip. Five crew members asleep in the boat’s top deck, including Captain Jerry Boylan, were awakened by shouts of “Fire! Fire!” and managed to escape. The passengers and another crew member trapped below deck by the flames, however, died from smoke inhalation, according to Santa Barbara County coroner’s reports.