Stockbridge man jumps to safety after Lake Sinclair boat fire - Milledgeville, GA

​MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — It’s been more than a week since a Stockbridge man was forced to jump from his boat to escape injury after his boat caught fire on Lake Sinclair in Baldwin County.

The memory of what happened May 26 will likely linger with him for a long time to come.

A pair of deputies with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, Sgt. Lee Kitchens and Sgt. Brandon Clements, said they saw a large plume of black smoke while patrolling in the area of Goat Island and the Baldwin County Airport. The smoke was coming from an area near Lake Sinclair Dam.

“As we came around the end of Goat Island, we observed a boat that was fully engulfed in flames near the Baldwin County Yacht Club,” Clements said in a written report.

When deputies made it to the scene, they found several other people watching the fire from their boats.

They quickly determined the boater’s identity and that he had been the only person aboard the vessel when it caught fire, Clements said.

Sgt. Kitchens talked with the man about what happened. He and Clements then secured the scene and waited on a firefighter with Baldwin County Fire Rescue and their fireboat to extinguish the fire.

The man was identified as Donald Mckneely.

After the fire was put out, deputies took Mckneely by boat to talk with a ranger with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division about what caused the fire.

Mckneely said he was driving to the Bass Boat House when he heard an explosion in the engine compartment, according to the report prepared by Deputy Clements. The cowling of the motor, along with two seats from the rear of the boat, were thrown into the center of the boat during the explosion.

The man said the boat’s engine section caught fire.

Mckneely told the deputy sheriff that he tried putting the fire out with a fire extinguisher, but his attempts were futile.

The man said he put on his lifejacket and jumped from the boat into the water to safety.

Witnesses aboard a nearby pontoon boat rescued him from the water.

Later as a firefighter was attempting to tow the badly damaged boat to the nearby yacht club, it took on water and sank, Clements said.