Tragic Dive boat fire in California

Now, imagine the other direction. Lack of safe guidance, direction, enforcement.
The owner sets the safety requirements. The owner tells the captain how to remove the trash and where, they direct safety routines.
And they ensure their boat is safe. AND test these requisites.
The buck stops at the captain, mostly; The liability stops at the top (owners).

Simple test;
You hire a captain to move a canoe from one side of the creek to the other side.
Your instructions include to ensure safe operation, all wear PFDs and install the drain plug before launching.
Several months later, the canoe is still intact after a few back and forth trips and you assume your instructions are followed.
Then one day, The canoe sinks. All drown except the captain you hired.
Seems the plug was never installed (captain paddled quickly before the canoe sank until this last transit) and nobody was wearing their PFDs.
Captains fault, Yes.
Your fault, Yes. You own that canoe, pay the bills and at the top of the liability target list.
No requisites were tested, managed or followed upon.
You hired the lucky & sub rate captain. Yes, you are to blame also.

More people need to go to prison, Ben..

In my above simple example, The canoe would probably pass all inspections also.
My point was the complacency of all and lack of proper stewardship of the operation.

Lets look at something different;
Airline attendants,,, You think they just serve peanuts?
Young, old, pretty, ugly, male, female, undetermined,, these folks have gobbles hours of training for the passengers safety.
The captain may be in charge butt he whole company is responsible for your safe passage.
Not one of them goes to pee with out a plan.
Cruise ships run a similar stewardship of your safety.

Nobody is told to not be safe, but it is the responsibility of all, to make sure it is safe. Including some old puke on land behind an old desk.

Another view;
Late one cold night on the front, an officer was following up on his sentries and pickets. He found two asleep.
One was directly under this officers charge.
He pulled out his pistol and shot this sleeping sentry, knowing he (the officer) would be shot if it was discovered he let this issue pass.

So, Keeping this next question back on the boat; who was scheduled on fire watch?
If not shot, He also needs to go to prison.

The biggest issue I have with this accident is how USCG inspectors could have certified the vessel to sleep so many passengers with a single primary exit and an emergency exit located on top of a bunk. This thing was a death trap which should have never been certified to carry so many

Yes the captain and the owner are responsible but the USCG is just as responsible.

When USCG inspectors certify a vessel to carry passengers, they state it is safe to do so. It tells the owners and crew the vessel is safe. This is the worst failure in this accident.

All may have been safe if the boat was operated correctly.
I would say that this certification came with certain requirements,, including a fire watch

Yes a fire watch would have helped but still outrageous to allow 49 pax below deck with one regular exit and one restricted emergency exit

Outrageous is not BIG enough of a word to use here. Murderous* comes to my mind.

*Capable of devastating or overwhelming, 34 times..

Yes, the rules were adopted to include fire watch. Seems not adhered to.

There could of been 10 hatches to the outside. All worthless in a fire of these materials erupting as fast as they do.
Poor folk were dead in their sleep just from a few seconds of fumes before anything was engulfed in flames.
And you know WTF I mean in fire watch; An awake person required watching over the sleeping occupants.
Required by the COI for boats of this use and utility.