Last Wednesday, a 45-foot fishing boat with two men aboard caught fire a mile off Santa Cruz, California. At 7:40 a.m., Coast Guard Sector San Francisco received an alert that the boat was on fire and immediately issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast to all vessels and rescue teams in the area,
The Coast Guard station in Monterey dispatched a boat crew and the Santa Cruz Harbor Patrol and a fire boat raced to the scene. Despite the huge blaze and billows of black smoke, the Harbor Patrol crew were able to rescue to the fishermen from the burning boat and transported them to Santa Cruz Wharf. Amazingly, no injuries were reported.
The fire boat was able to extinguish the flames but the boat was burnt to the gunnels and a total loss. Tow Boat US tried to salvage the hulk but as they towed it to land it sank in 47 feet of water.
The boat was carrying 650 gallons of diesel fuel when it caught fire and sank but the Coast Guard reported that they did not see any appreciable discharge int Santa Cruz Bay,
