Firefighters battled a morning boat blaze at a Medford yacht club, knocking down flames on two docked boats while surrounded by gallons of burning fuel.

“It was pretty dicey there for a moment,” said Medford Deputy Fire Chief Richard Colorusso. “We had burning fuel all around us.”

A total of 18 firefighters responded to a report of fire showing at the Mystic Yacht Club in Medford, Colorusso said. When they arrived, they found two boats ablaze parked next to each other on land where they were being stored for the winter, Colorusso said.

“The fuel tank breached on the boat where the fire at least appears to have started in,” he said. “We had at least 100 gallons of fuel on fire rolling out of the boat and we had trouble getting foam going.”

Colorusso said the fleet’s top ladder truck was unavailable, so firefighters were forced to use a spare truck, and the equipment used for dispensing fire suppressing foam, used to cool and smother flames, was “not adequate.”
Firefighters battled a morning boat blaze at a Medford yacht club, knocking down flames on two docked boats while surrounded by gallons of burning fuel.
“It was pretty dicey there for a moment,” said Medford Deputy Fire Chief Richard Colorusso. “We had burning fuel all around us.”
A total of 18 firefighters responded to a report of fire showing at the Mystic Yacht Club in Medford, Colorusso said. When they arrived, they found two boats ablaze parked next to each other on land where they were being stored for the winter, Colorusso said.
“The fuel tank breached on the boat where the fire at least appears to have started in,” he said. “We had at least 100 gallons of fuel on fire rolling out of the boat and we had trouble getting foam going.”

Colorusso said the fleet’s top ladder truck was unavailable, so firefighters were forced to use a spare truck, and the equipment used for dispensing fire suppressing foam, used to cool and smother flames, was “not adequate.”

Rob Skon said he was busily waxing and polishing a boat at Comstock Marina when he heard it.

"I heard a boom and saw hatches flying in the air," Skon, of Point Pleasant, said Tuesday afternoon. As smoke started billowing skyward, the man on the boat got clear of it, he said. "He was fine except for the lack of hair on his arms and legs; he is lucky to be alive."

The boat fire at the marina, located at the corner of Princeton Avenue and the base of Beaver Dam Bridge that connects Brick to Point Pleasant, forced Brick Township police to shut down Princeton Avenue while firefighting efforts were underway Tuesday. Those efforts included a firefighting boat that hosed down the fire from the Beaver Dam Creek.

Skon said he was about 30 feet away when the boat, which he said was at the fuel dock, exploded. He said he and Comstock staff and a few others tried to extinguish the fire dockside, but the combination of fuel, fiberglass and wind hampered their efforts.

Brick Township police were still dealing with the fire Tuesday and could not immediately provide additional details. A Nixle alert at about 2:30 p.m. warned motorists to avoid the area because of the firefighting efforts, shutting down Princeton Avenue for a time. Skon said traffic resumed shortly after the boat fire was extinguished.

Brick Township resident John Umina, who shared photos of the fire with Patch, said all that appeared to be left of the boat was its hull.

​An investigator with the Maine Fire Marshal’s office is trying to determine the cause of fire that destroyed a lobster boat in Owls Head Harbor early Sunday morning, Oct. 16.

According to Owls Head Fire Chief Frank Ross, a resident spotted the blaze at approximately 4:25 a.m.

The boat belonged to Todd Nichols, who has fished out of Owls Head for much of his life, said Ross. The 31-foot-boat was fairly new.

Nobody was at the harbor at that hour, said Ross. He did not believe that the fire was suspicious in origin, but is waiting for the final word from the state investigator. 

Nichols had gone out on his boat on Saturday, arriving back home around 5:30 p.m., said Ross.

Eleven members of the fire department responded and Owls Head Fire Dept. Lt. Jim Philbrook jumped into his lobster boat to drive the burning vessel away from the other boats in the harbor, toward the lighthouse side of the harbor.

The wind was blowing quite a bit, said Ross, and the fire department worked hard to douse the blaze with a pumper that was behind Philbrook’s boat.

What was left of the lobster boat has been towed to the town landing at Owls Head. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection was down at the water on Sunday to assess for any fuel contamination.

Ross said much of the local fishing community was also at the harbor on Sunday to help Nichols clean up what they could.

“Everybody was at the harbor trying to help him,” he said.

Families are without a home following a late Saturday night fire at the Paradise Marina.

Investigators continue to search for answers on the cause of four boats that caught fire.

Witnesses say they heard fire crackling which prompted them to call the North Fort Myers Fire Control District, who rescued one woman from the marina waters.

"I head popping, like fireworks," said David Miller.

Miller lives on a boat across from where the vessels went up in smoke. He says he saw the fire skip from boat to boat catching each ablaze.

Brittany Shore also lives on a boat in the marina. She says propane tanks on the boats also caught fire.

"It was shooting up sideways and to the left," Shore recalled. "There were bright blue flames. It was going pretty strong and caught the other boat on fire almost instantly."

Authorities say one person was taken to the hospital for burns.

Fighting the fire wasn't easy as NFMCD firefighters doused the boats for more than an hour and cutting down flames in shifts as some needed to take turns breathing fresh oxygen.

Some witnesses told us there were animals on the boats – some of which didn't make it out. They also say they saw one woman jumped from her boat to another and then into the water for safety.

Another woman stood by the charred boats through the smoke, weeping for people she says she knows who live on the boats.

"I am so sad, that these people that I know and love have lost their vessels," she said.

"These are our homes," said another woman. "We live on these boats!"

The time it took one couple to lose everything "literally was two minutes," said Jay Earlywine.

"The canvas and Eisenglass windows caught then the vinyl ceiling caught, and it just was a flame in a minute."

With his wife, Penny, trapped on board, Jay tried putting out the fire with an extinguisher, but it was no use.

"My wife jumped into the water over the stern. She couldn't go back inside -- her pet [cat] was aboard. We got a couple burns, but that's not a big deal really compared to starting your whole life over, so I don't know what we're going to do."

Penny was hospitalized for burns on her arm but has since left. The boat next to the Earlywines' caught fire first. Witnesses say a man and his three children were on board but made it off safely.

Neighbors told us they knew when the sun rose Sunday morning what they saw would be worse.

"And it was when you look at it, really breaks your heart that there are so many people that have everything on their boat," said fellow boat owner Judy Starr.

Others opened up their boats to those affected.

"You can't replace the little pets that were lost, but we do know that life goes on, and we will persevere and continue," Starr said.

A boat caught fire after fueling up at Battery Park Marina Saturday afternoon.

The boat's two occupants jumped into the water and swam to the dock after their boat went up in blazes.

Investigators aren’t sure how the fire started. 

One person received minor burns and was taken to Firelands Regional Medical Center for treatment, Sandusky Fire Captain Jason Roesch said.

"They had just pushed off and tried to start their boat," Roesch said. "That's when it went up. Luckily, the wind was blowing out into the bay, which pushed the boat away from the docks."

The boat slowly drifted into Sandusky Bay between Battery Park and Cedar Point. The fire burned for about 20 minutes until a Sandusky Fire Department boat was able to put the blaze out.

"It took that long because of the amount of fuel that was burning," Roesch said.

What was left of the boat sank after the fire was extinguished.

A response team from the U.S. Coast Guard will likely review the debris and environment to make sure the local water wasn't polluted.

It's possible the team will review the wreckage, too, said Mike Higgins, fireman with the U.S. Coast Guard Marblehead station.

Sandusky fire and police departments, along with the U.S. Coast Guard, responded to the scene.

Three people were rescued after a sailboat caught fire Friday afternoon off Redondo Beach.

The fire was reported just before 3 p.m. aboard the 44-foot vessel Laetitia, which was about nine miles off King Harbor, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department and U.S. Coast Guard.

A mayday call was issued on an emergency radio channel reporting an engine fire was spreading, according to the Coast Guard's Sondra Kay Kneen.

The three passengers aboard were advised to don life jackets and move to the bow of the boat to avoid the fire, she said.

​One of the boaters jumped into the water and was quickly rescued by county fire department lifeguards and Coast Guard personnel rescued two others from the stricken craft, Kneen said.

The Laetitia was fully involved in flames when firefighter/lifeguards arrived, authorities said.

One of the mariners sustained burned hands and the other two were unharmed, Kneen said.

Two men sustained minor injuries in a boat fire Saturday morning in Eagle Harbor.

At about 9:30 a.m., Bainbridge Fire, Bainbridge Police and Coast Guard units responded to find a 24-foot fiberglass boat tied to a buoy engulfed in flames. A Good Samaritan had gotten the man off the boat, said Bainbridge Fire Assistant Chief Luke Carpenter.

The agencies, including a Bainbridge fire boat, put out the fire and helped get the man to shore. The boat, which the man in his 50s had been living on, sank.

The man was taken to a Seattle hospital with minor injuries. The Good Samaritan was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and released.

The Bainbridge harbormaster is contacting a salvage company to retrieve the boat.

​Four people were hurt and three others were rescued in two separate boating incidents Friday off the Venice and Palos Verdes Peninsula coasts.

A 44-foot sailboat was about nine miles off King Harbor in Redondo Beach when it caught fire just before 3 p.m., authorities said. The Coast Guard received a mayday call reporting that the boat engine had caught fire and began to spread with three people aboard.

Rescuers told the passengers to put on life jackets and move to the bow of the boat to keep away from the fire. Coast Guard officers, Los Angeles city firefighters and a county lifeguard crew raced to the location on boats. A county fire helicopter also assisted.

The sailboat, Laetitia, was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters and lifeguards arrived. Two people were rescued from the boat, and a third person who had jumped into the water also was brought to safety, authorities said.

One passenger suffered minor burns. The three passengers were taken to Marina del Rey.

In Venice, a 20-foot boat with an outboard motor overturned on the beach, causing minor injuries to four people.

Lifeguards responded about 5:20 p.m. to the 4200 block of Ocean Front Walk, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Paramedics took one person from the scene on a stretcher, according to a witness.

A fire charred the cabin of an unoccupied sailboat before putting itself out Wednesday afternoon, the Stamford Fire Department said.

A witness reported seeing smoke coming from the boat about 3 p.m. while it was docked at Stamford Landing on Southfield Avenue, according to the report. When firefighters arrived, they found a 41-foot boat puffing black smoke from the hatches.

Authorities said they forced open the cabin door and found that the cabin had been heavily charred, though the fire had since put itself out.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.
​
The owner of the boat was reportedly not in Stamford during the incident, authorities said

Emergency crews worked for about 20 minutes to put out a fire that fully engulfed a 22-foot ski boat near the Port of Gulfport on Wednesday afternoon. The Coast Guard, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, and Gulfport Fire Department responded to the boat fire.

Gulfport Fire Chief Michael Beyerstedt said the man on board was fishing about 100 yards from shore when he heard popping noises from inside the boat. When the man opened a hatch, the flames flashed out and burned him on his face and arms. 

Beyerstedt said the man then abandoned the boat and swam to shore. Gulfport firefighters and AMR treated him for minor burns, but the man refused a ride to the hospital.

“This was great team work. We are glad to have a positive outcome without serious injuries,” said Beyerstedt.
​
Harrison County Fire Chief Pat Sullivan said the boat was completely destroyed. The DMR is investigating the cause of the blaze.