Fire destroyed and sunk one boat and damaged two others on Thursday night, Jan. 21 in Cambridge's city marina, with clean up work at the site continuing into the weekend.
Investigators are still looking for the cause of the fire that gutted and sunk the 39 foot Topaz Flybridge that was moored in a slip in Cambridge Yacht Basin.
A passerby reported the fire at 10:50 p.m., and 35 firefighters from Rescue Fire Company put out the blaze in an hour with the assistance of Cambridge Police Department and Maryland Natural Resources Police, and fire boats from Oxford Fire Company, Tilghman Island Volunteer Fire Company and Neck District Volunteer Fire Company.
"The boat was well involved with fire and started to spread to each slip next to it," said RFC Chief Adam Pritchett. "Even with it docked, it was a struggle to battle since there was no way to walk around the boat," Pritchett said.
Once the fire was out and the boat sunk, a containment boom was placed around the boat to control fuel from the vessel, said Pritchett, who said that clean up crews were working on Saturday, Jan. 23 to remove the boat and continue the clean up process.
The State Fire Marshal's Office said the fire did an estimated $185,000 to the boat and $1,000 to the contents of the 1991 vessel owned by Charles Woodward.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Salisbury Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal at (410) 713-3780.
"In general, any boat fire is dangerous to deal with, we still have to wear the same gear and breathing apparatus to fight fire but have to take extra precautions for firefighters not to fall overboard," said the RFC chief.
"Limited access from the docks makes it hard to get where we need to place water on the fire," said Pritchett, who further explained that fiberglass boats continue to smolder, making fire boats with pumps an important asset. RFC currently has a rescue boat that does not have water pumping capability.
Investigators are still looking for the cause of the fire that gutted and sunk the 39 foot Topaz Flybridge that was moored in a slip in Cambridge Yacht Basin.
A passerby reported the fire at 10:50 p.m., and 35 firefighters from Rescue Fire Company put out the blaze in an hour with the assistance of Cambridge Police Department and Maryland Natural Resources Police, and fire boats from Oxford Fire Company, Tilghman Island Volunteer Fire Company and Neck District Volunteer Fire Company.
"The boat was well involved with fire and started to spread to each slip next to it," said RFC Chief Adam Pritchett. "Even with it docked, it was a struggle to battle since there was no way to walk around the boat," Pritchett said.
Once the fire was out and the boat sunk, a containment boom was placed around the boat to control fuel from the vessel, said Pritchett, who said that clean up crews were working on Saturday, Jan. 23 to remove the boat and continue the clean up process.
The State Fire Marshal's Office said the fire did an estimated $185,000 to the boat and $1,000 to the contents of the 1991 vessel owned by Charles Woodward.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Salisbury Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal at (410) 713-3780.
"In general, any boat fire is dangerous to deal with, we still have to wear the same gear and breathing apparatus to fight fire but have to take extra precautions for firefighters not to fall overboard," said the RFC chief.
"Limited access from the docks makes it hard to get where we need to place water on the fire," said Pritchett, who further explained that fiberglass boats continue to smolder, making fire boats with pumps an important asset. RFC currently has a rescue boat that does not have water pumping capability.
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