Months ago, Truth Aquatics owner Glen Fritzler spoke to Ralph Clevenger, who creates visual content for the company, about making a safety video that would play while passengers boarded his dive boats.

The video settles briefly on a person opening the Conception’s escape hatch. It’s located underneath a counter in the dining area where passengers stop by to sign the manifest and bears a red sign with the words ‘emergency exit’ and ‘keep clear.’

Clevenger, a photographer, finished the video the day before a fire on the Conception last week killed 34 people in the worst maritime disaster in modern California history.

Passenger knowledge of a safety plan aboard the vessel now plays a central part in a criminal investigation that is examining why no one sleeping below deck was able to escape. Law enforcement sources have told The Times that a preliminary investigation found signs of serious safety lapses aboard the Conception, including the possibility that passengers did not receive thorough safety briefings.


The Times spoke to more than a dozen people who have recently been on Truth Aquatics boats. Although many remembered the crew as professional and conscientious of safety protocols, some said that the captain’s initial safety briefing was inadequate and that they were never told about the escape hatch.

“I have no idea how we would have gotten out of that room in an emergency,” said Josiah Wilcox of Santa Rosa, who was on the Conception in April for a trip with the Sierra Club.

A safety video made by Ralph A. Clevenger for Truth Aquatics shows the emergency exit hatch aboard the Conception that leads from the lower bunk room to the galley above. (Courtesy of Truth Aquatics/Ralph A. Clevenger)

Douglas Schwartz, Fritzler’s criminal defense attorney, did not respond to requests for comment.


Those who died were presumed to be sleeping in the bunk area of the boat. There were two ways out to the deck — a staircase on one side, the emergency hatch on the other.

Both led to the galley area, where some believe the fire may have started. Surviving crew members who were above deck when the fire broke out told National Transportation Safety Board investigators the flames were too intense to save anyone.

Still, the hatch has received scrutiny from the NTSB. Jennifer Homendy, who is leading the investigation, said she was “taken aback” by the size of the emergency hatch when she toured the Vision — an 80-foot sister vessel to the Conception.


“You have to climb up a ladder and across the top bunk and then push a wooden door up,” she said. “It was a tight space. We couldn’t turn the light on.”

Video frame grab shows divers resuming their search Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, for the final missing victim who perished in a boat fire off the Southern California coast. (KABC-TV)

Clevenger said the video was intended to be similar to what passengers on airplanes watch before takeoff. Safety briefings on Truth Aquatics boats often take place once the boat has reached its destination. Fritzler was looking for a way to brief passengers before then, he said.

Clevenger, who has been on hundreds of diving trips with the company since the 1990s, said the captain would speak from the dining area next to the galley and refer to a written script during the briefing. Among other things, he would identify the escape hatch, point out the location of life vests and life rafts, and introduce the crew.


“I have never heard a captain on any of the boats deviate from the script, omit things or forget to say things,” he said. “If they do, the crew members say ‘Hey, hey.’”

He added that laminated sheets throughout the boat — including in the bunk area — contained safety information as well.

Others have said they could not have felt safer among the Conception’s crew. Zach Smith of San Luis Obispo, a diver who went on dozens of trips aboard the Conception, would typically hear Jerry Boylan, the captain of the boat the day of the fire, give a 15- to 20-minute safety briefing.


He said Boylan would instruct passengers not to put anything over the escape hatch.

“He makes everyone listen to it whether they’ve been on 100 times or zero times,” said Smith, who was last on the boat in May for a daylong diving trip.

Don Barthelmess, a retired diving instructor who taught at Santa Barbara City College for 30 years, called Boylan “the most experienced captain in the Santa Barbara Channel.”


Barthelmess said he chartered the Vision in May and the crew explained safety procedures and pointed out the fire fighting equipment.

“They’re very serious about boat briefings,” he said. “I can’t think of a situation where it’s been lax.”

Ben Wolfe, a retired Los Angeles County fire captain who goes out with Truth Aquatics about four times a year, was on the Conception for a five-day trip in August. He said he has never had any safety concerns and called the crew “really safety conscious.”

“They make sure everybody is out of the bunks and everybody is there,” he said of the morning briefing.


1 / 41 The burned hulk of the Conception is brought to the surface by a salvage team off Santa Cruz Island. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times) 2 / 41 The burned hulk of the Conception is brought to the surface by a salvage team off Santa Cruz Island. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times) 3 / 41 A mourner pays her respects at a memorial made up of scuba tanks, one for each victim, during the vigil at Chase Palm Park on Friday night. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 41 Mourners gather for a vigil at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara on Friday evening honoring the victims of the Conception boat fire that broke out off Santa Cruz Island before dawn Monday and claimed 34 lives. (Luis Sinco) 5 / 41 Glen Fritzler, left, co-owner of Truth Aquatics and the dive boat Conception, consoles an attendee during a vigil at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara on Friday evening. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times) 6 / 41 Scuba diver Julia Donath joins mourners for a vigil at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara on Friday evening to honor the 34 victims that died in the Conception boat fire. (Luis Sinco) 7 / 41 Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, with other officials, presents a wreath during the vigil at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara on Friday evening homor the 34 victims of the Conception boat fire. (Luis Sinco) 8 / 41 Mourners gather for a vigil at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara on Friday evening honoring the victims of the Conception boat fire that broke out off Santa Cruz Island before dawn Monday and claimed 34 lives. (Luis Sinco) 9 / 41 Some of the thousands of people join a vigil on the beach in honor of those who lost their lives in the Conception boat fire along the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 10 / 41 Allison Metchikof, left and Rachel Levi, right, embrace during a vigil hosted by Deep Blue Scuba Center in honor of the victims aboard the dive ship Conception in Long Beach. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) 11 / 41 Divers and support crews from many agencies work the scene of the dive boat fire off Santa Cruz Island. (Santa Barbara County) 12 / 41 The derrick barge Salta Verde off the coast of Santa Cruz Island upon its arrival late Wednesday at the scene of the wreck of the dive boat Conception. (U.S. Coast Guard) 13 / 41 The search area where divers were looking through the sunken wreckage of the Conception is outlined. (KABC-TV) 14 / 41 Divers and support crews from many agencies work the scene of the dive boat fire off Santa Cruz Island. (Santa Barbara County) 15 / 41 The owners of Truth Aquatics and the dive boat Conception, Glen and Dana Fritzler, right, and their daughter Ashley, left, during an interview in Santa Barbara, Calif. (KEYT-TV) 16 / 41 Surfer Tim DeVries of Santa Barbara views the “Lost at Sea Memorial” at the end of the Santa Barbara Harbor jetty Thursday morning. The memorial reads “In memory of our loved ones whose lives and destinies have been claimed by the sea.” (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) 17 / 41 Members of the FBI dive team view a growing memorial prior to departing Thursday morning to the site of the dive boat tragedy. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) 18 / 41 People pay their respects at a makeshift memorial in Santa Barbara for victims of the deadly dive boat fire off Santa Cruz Island. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 41 CJ Andelman, 12, of Santa Barbara, who has become a scuba diver along with her twin sister, plays her harp Wednesday morning during the memorial at Santa Barbara Harbor. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) 20 / 41 Jennifer Homendy, center, of the National Transportation Safety Board, with other NTSB and Coast Guard officials on Santa Barbara Harbor aboard Vision, the sister ship to Conception. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) 21 / 41 Santa Barbara resident Britany Martin lets her son Theo, 2, place flowers at a growing memorial to the fire victims at Santa Barbara Harbor. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) 22 / 41 FBI dive team members prepare to leave Santa Barbara Harbor on Wednesday morning and head to the site of the fire. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) 23 / 41 A memorial is growing at Santa Barbara Harbor, where the dive boat Conception was based. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 41 Olivia, left, sister of a female crew member thought to have died in the boat fire, hugs Jennifer Stafford, who placed flowers at Santa Barbara Harbor. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 41 The Conception burns off Santa Cruz Island on Monday morning. (Ventura County Fire Department) 26 / 41 Search and rescue personnel remove one of more than a dozen body bags in Santa Barbara Harbor after the Conception diving boat caught fire early Monday. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 27 / 41 After hanging a dive flag in memory of the victims, JJ Lambert, 38, who said he had dived off the Conception as a kid, is hugged by Jenna Marsala, 33, at Santa Barbara Harbor near where the Conception departed. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 28 / 41 Orlando Aldana places candles, one for each person aboard the Conception, at a makeshift memorial at Sea Landing in the Santa Barbara Harbor. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 29 / 41 At Santa Barbara Harbor, James Miranda kneels in prayer. “It’s a very sad moment for California,” he said. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 41 Rescuers and law enforcement, on a boat docked at Santa Barbara Harbor, move a body that was recovered after Monday’s deadly boat fire. (Daniel Dreifuss / Associated Press) 31 / 41 The body of a victim is moved at Santa Barbara Harbor. (Daniel Dreifuss / Associated Press) 32 / 41 U.S. Coast Guard searches for victims of the dive boat fire off Santa Cruz Island on Monday afternoon. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times ) 33 / 41 Dive boat captain Jerry Boylan is brought back to U.S. Coast Guard headquarters at Channel Islands Harbor on Monday in Oxnard. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 41 Firefighters arrive back at the U.S. Coast Guard Station after battling the fire. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times) 35 / 41 A victim from a dive boat that caught fire off the Ventura County coast early Monday morning is taken to an ambulance in Oxnard. (OnScene.TV) 36 / 41 The captain of the Grape Escape boat, which rescued survivors of a boat fire off the Channel Islands, looks on near the U.S. Coast Guard Station Channel Islands in Oxnard on Monday. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images) 37 / 41 Firefighters battle a blaze on a dive boat near Santa Cruz Island. (Santa Barbara County Fire Department) 38 / 41 A diving boat fire near Santa Cruz Island off the Ventura County coast. (Santa Barbara County Fire Department) 39 / 41 The dive boat Conception is engulfed in flames after a deadly fire broke out aboard the vessel off the Southern California Coast. (Santa Barbara County) 40 / 41 The dive boat Conception seen at dawn Monday burns off Santa Cruz Island. (Santa Barbara County Fire) 41 / 41 Conception, the boat that caught fire off Ventura County. (Truth Aquatics)

But some, like Wilcox, recall their time on the boat differently.

“On that cruise, it seemed to me the watchword was ‘safety last,’” he said.

He said that passengers did not receive a safety briefing from the time they boarded the boat on Saturday night to the time they arrived at Santa Rosa Island about noon the next day. In the time in between, he said, high waves rocked the boat for hours.


“It was extremely rough,” he said. “People were getting sick left and right. I would have liked to have known where the life preservers were.”

After the boat anchored, Wilcox said, Boylan gave a safety briefing lasting no longer than five minutes. He said it mostly consisted of pointing passengers to safety cards on tables in the galley area. The captain, he added, did not point out the fire extinguishers on board or mention the escape hatch.

Yvonne Churchill Rankin of Salt Lake City said that she could barely sleep the first couple of nights after hearing about the fire.


She said that the captain failed to show passengers where the safety hatch was when she dove with her husband last month on the Truth, the Conception’s sister ship.

The captain, she said, spoke only generally about the boat before the first dive, talking about the restrooms and telling passengers not to go into certain areas if they were wet.

“He made no mention of ‘in case the boat runs into trouble or we run aground, or if someone hits us, or if someone has a medical emergency,’” she said. “There was nothing of that sort at all.”

Rankin added that because there were few outlets on board, passengers utilized a lot of power strips, and that power extension cords were strung about in the galley area and bunk room.


One of the surviving crew members has theorized that a phone charging station may have caused the fire. Shirley Hansen, the owner of the Grape Escape, a fishing boat that provided refuge to crew fleeing the fire, recalled him saying that he thought the fire started in the galley, where cellphones and cameras had been plugged in to charge overnight.

“There was even an extension cord strung up through the ladder that led up to the safety hatch....

Anyone using the route could have gotten entangled in it while trying to escape,” Rankin said.

Several others who said there was no mention of the escape hatch during the briefing did not recall other safety issues. Emiliano Wichtendahl of Santa Barbara said the crew did not go over the safety hatch when he was on the Conception several weeks ago. He slept near a staircase that led out of the bunk room and hadn’t known of another exit.


“I just knew the stairs and that’s about it,” he said.

The Coast Guard has issued new national emergency safety bulletin to passenger vessels intended to improve safety in the wake of the Conception disaster, calling on boat operators nationwide to review safety measures, make sure safety equipment is operational and reduce potential hazards from lithium batteries, power strips and extension cords.

The bulletin also called on operators to “review emergency duties and responsibilities with the crew to ensure they comprehend and can comply with their obligations in an emergency, including passenger safety orientation, and ensure that emergency escapes are clearly identified, functional and remain clear of objects that may impede egress.”


Federal investigators spent several days this week searching the Santa Barbara Harbor office of Truth Aquatics. The FBI on Tuesday asked to public for any information — including videos and photos — about the Conception. Efforts to raise the boat from the Santa Barbara channel have been repeatedly put off due to bad weather. Officials now say the salvage process to raise the boat will begin Thursday.

A second video that Clevenger made features Fritzler showing viewers where to secure their tanks on the boat, hang their wet suits and place their spear guns.

“Glenn was always improving the boats,” said Clevenger. “He wanted something that was a further reminder of where to put everything and where all the basic safety features were on the boat.”