Deputies from Cowlitz County and Clark County were dispatched to the lake to help Fire District 7 respond to a report of an occupied boat on fire in the lake, according to a sheriff’s office statement.
The operator of the boat, a 60-year-old Portland man, suffered second-degree burns on his legs and a passenger, a 20-year-old Milwaukie, Ore., woman was also burned. They were both transported to the burn center at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, according to the sheriff’s office.
A third passenger escaped with minor injuries, and a small dog on the boat managed to escape the fire and was recovered, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies suspect a fouled backfire flame arrestor may have been the cause of the fire, which burned the boat to its hull, the sheriff’s office said.