Brookings – Boat Fire!

A boat fire in one of our worst nightmares. I smelled something burning. Not a “wood in the fireplace” smell, but a “the whole house is burning down” smell. I opened all the doors in the boat and sniffed. The smell was not coming from Adventure…Phew! I told Sean to get his coat. I wanted to get upwind of the smoke. We made our way to the other side of the marina where the smoke was coming from. A sailboat that had been hauled out the day prior was on fire!

We watched it burn standing next to a lady who worked at the boatyard and found out that the owner was removing his wind generator and it started a fire in the aft of the boat. He and the marina staff used the onboard fire extinguishers but were unable to stop it. On a boat, wires and batteries are hidden behind walls, floors, beds, closets, and settees, making it extremely difficult to get retardant directly on a fire. The firemen had to cut out the hull in several places with a chainsaw to get water on the fire.

We walked by the next day and the forward hatch was open. We could see the inside was completely black, so the entire inside of the boat was destroyed. The man was a liveaboard at the marina, so lost not only his boat but his home and all its contents.

Author: Kathy (4/25/2023)