Browsing: boat fires

Cruising Life
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Fire at La Paz Marina Sinks 5 Yachts

A sudden, late-night fire destroyed or heavily damaged at least 10 yachts last week at the Marina Palmira in La Paz, Mexico. Local accounts said at least five boats sank and five others were damaged in a fire that started about 3 a.m. One boat, a 107-foot Hatteras named Optimus, caught on fire and drifted away from its dock before burning to the waterline against a seawall (see picture below). Optimus was launched in 2019 and took its maiden voyage from the Hatteras factory in New Bern, North Carolina, to New York. Marina Palmira is a full-service marina with 180…

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NTSB Urges Coast Guard To Act on Safety

The National Transportation Safety Board is urging the Coast Guard to adopt safety management regulations for small passenger vessels, one of the recommendations that the NTSB made as a result of the fire on the commercial dive boat Conception that killed 34 people off Southern California in September, 2019. Safety management systems (SMS) regulations now are now looser for smaller passenger vessels than they are for cargo ships and workboats. But the NTSB has asked the Coast Guard to tighten them since 2005. Congress approved a tightening in 2010. For its part, the Coast Guard says it has made some…

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16 Hurt in Ozarks Fuel Dock Explosion

Sixteen people were injured in an explosion at a fuel dock on the Lake of the Ozarks last Friday afternoon. Missouri State Police say the explosion occurred when the driver of a 2000 Carver motorboat turned on the ignition after refueling the boat at Millstone Marina. They said a spark in the engine area caused the explosion, which ejected three people from the boat. Two people on the fuel dock were also injured, The injuries ranged from minor to moderate, according to the state police. Four adults and a 15-year-old girl were taken to the hospital. The others were treated…

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Explosive Fire Destroys Mattapoisett Boatyard

An explosive six-alarm fire roared through the Mattapoisett Boatyard on Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts on Friday afternoon. About 100 firefighters tried to extinguish the fast-spreading fire for more than five hours. Four people were injured, including three firefighters who were later released from the hospital. A 50-year-old man was seriously burned and remained in the hospital. All told, the fire destroyed five buildings, dozens of boats and more than three dozen vehicles. A yard worker told WJAR-TV that a boat in one of the yard’s sheds caught fire “and it went up very, very fast. Everything went up.” “We had a…

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Boat Fire in Chickamauga Lock

A boat caught fire and burned inside the Chickamauga Lock on the Tennessee River on Saturday morning. The two people on board jumped off and were rescued by workers on a construction boat nearby. The lock is about 7 miles above Chattanooga, Tennessee, and a Chattanooga fireboat attacked the flames inside the lock with its deck gun. Then the boat was towed outside the lock, where the fire was extinguished. Operated by the TVA, the lock measures 60 feet by 360 feet and has a drop of 53 feet. The cause of the fire was not immediately determined. The lock…

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Yacht Burns, Sinks, Off New Hampshire

A 72-foot yacht caught fire and was quickly engulfed in flames in the Piscataqua River near New Castle, New Hampshire, on Saturday afternoon. The three people and two dogs on board were rescued from the water by a good Samaritan boat. The burning boat drifted out of the harbor with the tide and across the state line into Maine. It sank near buoy 2KR buoy off Kittery just two hours after the first emergency radio call, according to the New Hampshire Marine Patrol. The yacht, named Elusive, caught fire as it was cruising down the river, heading for the Wentworth…

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Electrical Fire Probably Sank Yacht: NTSB

About 1 in the afternoon of March 16, 2001, the 100-foot yacht La Dolce Vita anchored near the largest islet in the Marquesas, the start of a four-day charter from Key West, just 17 miles away, with four crew and two guests on board. Everything was fine until about 5:30, when the mate smelled something; a fire had started in the engine room. Despite the captain’s efforts to fight it, first with dry chemical extinguishers and then with the boat’s own fire-suppression system, the entire yacht caught fire; it sank the next day, a $3.9 million total loss.  Fortunately all…

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Coast Guard Rescues 7, Dog, from Burning Boat

The Coast Guard just rescued seven people and their dog after their boat caught fire off the coast of Gulfport, Mississippi. Even though the boat ended up being engulfed in flames, none of the people (or the dog) were injured. You can see the story from beginning to end in the video below. It starts with several people already in the water as the boat starts to burn. They’re wearing life jackets, one is hanging into the anchor line. The fire spreads, and you can see the shadow of the Coast Guard plane as it passes overhead. At this point,…

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Candles Cause Fire that Sinks Yacht: NTSB

Two candles that had been lighted but left unattended in the VIP suite caused a fire that burned and sank the 120-foot yacht Andiamo at its dock in Miami two years ago, according to a new National Safety Transportation Board report. The NTSB also said that the crew’s failure to complete repairs to the yacht’s fire detection and alarm system contributed to the severity of the fire. The yacht, worth $6.3 million, was a loss, and the fire caused an additional $480,000 worth of damage to the marina and other boats. The NTSB reported this series of events: On Dec.…

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Fire Destroys 82-Foot Yacht in New Bedford

An 82-foot yacht caught fire at a New Bedford, Massachusetts, marina earlier this week and was totally destroyed. There were no reports of injuries. Local fire officials said they received a call about 5:30 p.m. on Monday saying that a yacht was on fire at Fleet Marina on Popes Island in New Bedford. The yacht was Miss Dunia, a 2007 Horizon, and it was carrying 500 gallons of fuel. The New Bedford fire department said the fire broke out below deck and then spread rapidly. “Long operation. Very complex operation. Manpower intensive,” said New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Krueger. Fire…

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