A boat explosion killed a boater and seriously injured another, at the gas docks at Pier 31 on Sunday afternoon.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, James Holcomb, of Nevada, Mo., was the captain of a 1989 Carver Santiago Bay that was refueling at Pier 31's gas dock. A witness at the scene said the blower was not run during the refueling, however the exact cause of the explosion has not been confirmed. The boat exploded after refueling. A witness reported said bystanders helped push the boat out into the water after the occupants were moved to safety.

Though initially the Patrol says they were told that the boat fire was out, as emergency responders arrived, they found the boat was fully engulfed in flames. The boat drifted past the breakwater to a nearby point. Mid-County Fire Protection District responded with a fire boat and crews worked to extinguish the fire at a seawall at shore.

​Susan Abele-Burns, 58, of El Dorado Springs, Mo., sustained serious injuries and was flown by Mercy Lifeline helicopter to University Hospital for treatment.
Ronald Moore, 76, of Nevada, Mo., sustained serious injuries in the explosion and was flown by Staff For Life helicopter to University Hospital in Columbia. He was pronounced deceased there at 8:34 p.m.

One person is safe after the Coast Guard responded to a massive boat fire off Whidbey Island Thursday night.
The boat was about nine miles off shore, west of Point Partridge. A thick plume of black smoke could be seen for several miles.
According to the Coast Guard, one person was on board the boat, but was able to make it safely away from the fire in a dinghy. That person was then picked up by a passing boat and taken to John Wayne Marina in Sequim.
No word yet if the boater had any injuries or what may have caused the fire.
The Coast Guard is setting up a safety zone around the burning boat.

Two people were rescued from a 30-foot boat after it caught fire in Boston Harbor Saturday night, officials said.
The man and woman, who were the only two aboard, were not injured, according to Brian Fleming, a Coast Guard operations unit controller.
Officials responded to the fire around 7 p.m., he said. The boat, a Wellcraft cabin cruiser, was about 120 yards from shore, between the Fish Pier and the World Trade Center.
Initial reports indicated that it was an electrical fire, he said.

​Two people were found dead Friday in a boat docked at Marina Shores in Portage in what officials are investigating as a possible case of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Porter County Coroner's office.

Coroner Chuck Harris said the initial 911 call went out just after 10 p.m. His office was called in at 11:16 p.m. and identified Michael S. McKinney, 44, of Wanatah and Jennifer Ellenberger, 38, of Crown Point, who were both pronounced dead at the scene, Harris said.

According to witnesses, McKinney's mother had been searching for him and discovered him unresponsive in the cabin of the boat name The Paradox, Harris said in the press release.

Carbon monoxide tests taken at the scene by the Portage Fire Department found gas present in toxic levels, he said.

"There were no indications of any foul play during the ongoing investigation," Harris said in the release.

Toxicology is being performed by the coroner's office to confirm carbon monoxide poisoning, he said.

Portage Police, Portage Fire and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources were investigating. Portage police were not available to discuss the case. An investigator with the Department of Natural Resources said the investigation is ongoing and more information will be released as it becomes available.

A Saturday morning fire at Port Royale Marina destroyed a houseboat along with the pontoon boat docked next to it, and damages three other boats nearby.  
The owner of the houseboat, who lived on the boat, said he knows how the fire started.  He said he lit a candle, and a nearby curtain blew into the flame, according to Division Chief Jason Shivers with the Forsyth County Fire Department.  Shivers said the man told him the fire moved faster than anything he'd ever seen before.  

By the time firefighters left station 9, located just under 3 miles away at about 9 a.m. Saturday, they could already see a column of black smoke rising from the marina.  Firefighters arrived to find the houseboat burning, and a pontoon boat docked next to it also on fire.  Officials say that both of those boats are a total loss, and that two other boats, a personal watercraft, and the dock all sustained significant damage from the heat of the fire.  
Chief Shivers said the initial call reported people trapped on the dock, but firefighters actually found that while people were on an area of the dock beyond the fire and unable to leave due to the heat, none were actually trapped inside the burning boats.  
Shivers said the situation that firefighters encountered could have been much worse.  He explained that firefighters were able to locate the first engine at the entrance to the dock, and the boat that burned was near the front of the dock, minimizing the time needed to get water on the fire. "If this fire would have been on the next dock out, they would have had to lay about 300 feet of supply line down the dock before they could even begin to fight the fire," Shivers noted.  "If it had been one of the farthest boats on that dock, the damaged could have been extensive before we could even begin to get water on the fire,." 
Asked about a fire boat, Shivers explained that it's been discussed, but none of the counties that border Lake Lanier has one.  Shivers said that a boat capable of fighting fires from the water side is something that needs to be considered.  "If this had happened at night, we could have had people trapped on that dock and a very extensive fire that would be almost impossible to access."  
Battalion Chief Paige Colwell credits workers at Port Royale Marina with the help they provided as well.  "By the time we arrived, they already had a truck with a portable pump set up to try and do what they could, and were shutting off power to the area," she explained.  

Shivers said the man who lived on the boat was not injured, and everyone nearby also made it off their boats, but one cat that lived on the houseboat did die in the fire.  

A boat caught fire at Pactola Lake, with a family of four still on board.
The family realized the boats engine caught fire while out on the water, and began to evacuate. Other boaters nearby pulled them out of the water while their boat was still ablaze. The Game Fish and Parks Department attempted to put out the fire while it was hauled to the dock by another boat.  
Crews were able to put out the blaze and no injuries were reported.
"This is a good reminder for everybody that they have all of the safety equipment required by state law,” said Deputy Kirk Buchholz with the Pennington County Sheriffs Office. “To have a fire extinguisher, to have their throw able floatation devices, their life vests and all of that, and make sure that all of those are in good working order. Make sure that their fire extinguisher is actually charged, not expired or anything like that, that way they can be as safe as possible especially during the holiday weekend.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.  

Six fishermen were rescued after their 37-foot vessel caught fire off Point Loma’s coast Saturday, fire authorities said.
The crew of the sport-fishing boat Reel Viking called Coast Guard about 8:30 a.m. reporting their boat had caught fire, according to Coast Guard officials. The Coast Guard transmitted the report to boats in the area, about 10 miles off the coast, and within minutes the sport-fishing boat Passport arrived and rescued the boaters.
The Coast Guard also responded to the scene and asked for assistance from San Diego lifeguards, who sent a fire boat and a surf boat.
Lifeguards trained to fight marine fires put out the flames, but the Reel Viking was not recoverable and sank.
No one was injured.
The boaters were transferred to the Coast Guard’s vessel and returned to San Diego Bay.
The cause of the fire was not known.

Two boaters escaped unscathed, thanks to quick action from dock crew after a boat's engine compartment caught fire on Friday afternoon.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, a 1985 Bayliner was being fueled at Kelly's Port Marina. But when driver Danny Friend, 70, of Osage Beach, tried to start the boat, the engine compartment exploded, the Patrol says. The Patrol noted the blower was not being used during the refueling.
"Unfortunately, it’s not our first instance with this, however part of the training we do with all of our team on the gas dock is instances with fire," explained Kyle Kelly, who runs Kelly's Port Marina.
Kelly bragged on his dock crew, who he says sprang into action as soon as the engine compartment exploded. "Our team acted extremely quickly," he said, adding, "We had all people — and poodle! — off the vessel quickly and effectively."

The Kelly's Port service team pulled boat away from the docks and other boaters, and the fire was extinguished by the time emergency personnel arrived. He said the emergency response was quick, too, praising the Missouri State Highway Patrol/Water Patrol, fire crews and Lake Tow for coming to the scene. "It’s great to be surrounded by professionals," he said.