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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Big explosion & fire at my marina

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/24/2010 : 10:19:37

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Boat-2-boat-houses-burn-at-Seattle-marina-101375034.html

My friend who lives on his boat just a a few dozen yards away called 911 about 4am this morning, said the explosion was huge & it took about half an hour before any firefighting equipment showed up.

Our boat's not in the marina, and likely wouldn't have been damaged if it were, this fire occurred further south and across the fairway, but three boats are gone, and three sheds are gone as well. As far as I know, there were no injuries.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

Edited by - on

jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2010 : 10:26:58

sounds a bit suspicious...

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islander
Master Marine Consultant

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4024 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2010 : 11:17:42

Marina fires always worry me. You never know what someone is doing on another boat. My Marina also had a fire caused by a boater refinishing his woodwork under his aft enclosure. The varnish wasn't drying very well in the cool late October weather so he put an electric heater inside and zipped it all closed. Stupid ya think? It was a windy day so when his dock lines burned through the boat drifted across the fairway and ignited every boat that it came in contact with. Lucky for me I had just pulled my boat the day before or mine would have been toast. I think it was 12-13 boats were damaged or destroyed. This was in 2005. Dave , I'm glad your boat is OK. This really becomes a insurance nightmare. The other boat owners and the Marina all going after the boat that caused this. Good reason to carry as much liability as you can. Here's some photos.
http://www.gcvfd.com/photos/groupdisplay.php?group=20070530_1180554376

Edited by - islander on 08/24/2010 11:29:03

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2010 : 11:18:08

That would have beat 510ft of hose.

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islander
Master Marine Consultant

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4024 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2010 : 11:35:42

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">That would have beat 510ft of hose.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Exactly the problem. Most local fire company's don't have the equipment to go from a street hydrant through parking lots down gang planks and out 500ft of dock. Marina fires are hard to fight.

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PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

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1225 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2010 : 12:28:23

We just had a 43 foot houseboat go up in our marina about 4 weeks ago. Boat is a total loss and it did 30K worth of damage to the marina.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2010 : 12:35:02

There is speculation that it's an insurance fire, but that's unsubstantiated. They think two propane tanks went up, which would correlate pretty well with my friend's report of explosions they heard this morning from less than a hundred yards away.

I've emailed our marina manager volunteering to help clean up this weekend. I figured his phone was probably busy enough today.

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GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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4306 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2010 : 18:11:31

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by delliottg
 http://www.king5.com/news/local/Boat-2-boat-houses-burn-at-Seattle-marina-101375034.html

My friend who lives on his boat just a a few dozen yards away called 911 about 4am this morning, said the explosion was huge & it took about half an hour before any firefighting equipment showed up.

Our boat's not in the marina, and likely wouldn't have been damaged if it were, this fire occurred further south and across the fairway, but three boats are gone, and three sheds are gone as well. As far as I know, there were no injuries.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I just watched a show about a week ago on the new fire boats Seattle put into service recently. They were talking about some previous marina fires in the area. Unfortunately I guess they got to test out the new equipment.

Edited by - GaryB on 08/24/2010 18:13:19

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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6855 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2010 : 19:57:52

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by islander
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">That would have beat 510ft of hose.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Exactly the problem. Most local fire company's don't have the equipment to go from a street hydrant through parking lots down gang planks and out 500ft of dock. Marina fires are hard to fight.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

according to wiki seattle has 3 boats plus 1 in reserve.

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At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 08/26/2010 : 15:21:03

If we have a fire on one of our docks, we're in trouble. The docks all float on huge styrofoam blocks with very heavy metal dock supports/roofs on top of them. The styrofoam melts taking the dock and all boat to the bottom, and where my boat sits is 62' deep. So far it's happened once in recent memory, about 25 years ago.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 08/26/2010 : 15:53:00

Just talked to my friend who first alerted me about this. He says four of the boat houses are gone, and three boats either burned to the water line, sunk or were severely damaged. It sounds like the SFD is still investigating the cause, but they're saying it was a bilge fire. That seems unlikely but who knows?

And no cleanup has started yet. I'll probably just show up at the marina with my tools this weekend to see what can be done.

Edited by - delliottg on 08/26/2010 15:53:36

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