So my last post was poking fun at the sometimes overly-serious people on the forums. We were so enjoying everyone chiming in good and bad, laughing, and folks recounting their own forum experiences. We lost a few followers and we gained a few. Such is life. We were enjoying the banter. That joy ended swiftly when Tuesday morning around 7:30 am Mel and I heard, from our v-berth, a loud explosion. We looked at each other completely confused. Confused until we heard a woman’s blood-curdling screams. We jumped out of bed as quickly as possible and onto the foredeck to see black smoking rising from a powerboat three boats over. As I ran to the boat Mel dialed 911.
I saw the owner (out of respect for the situation, I will not use his name), his wife, and four year-old son emerge from a heap of black smoke trying to get to the dock. He was badly burned. His shirt was all but gone, his gym shorts where blown apart and melted. His arms, hands, face, back… well the reports now say 90 % of his body… burned. He was in complete shock and his wife stood paralyzed, screaming. As we rushed him to the outdoor pool shower and made sure everyone else was clear, the fire took hold.
That simple act, meeting him, getting him to the shower and rushing back to the boat took about 1 minute. In that time, the fire doubled. Smoke was gushing from the hatches and flames began to rage. The property manager and I entertained the idea of grabbing the dock fire hose which was about 100 ft. away but decided to get to the street for fear the two 100-gallon GAS tanks and the propane would explode.
Certain our boat would be destroyed, we grabbed Jet and headed for the street to flag down the paramedics and fire fighters. I ran back and contemplated whether or not to move our boat. Could I get it started and get off the dock? Should I just grab our phones and computers and let insurance take care of the rest?The Fire Department arrived in minutes but boat fires are truly monsters. They engulf in seconds and fiberglass burns so hot, one firefighter told me, “Once it gets going, it’s almost impossible to put out without the boat sinking.” Two marine units showed up and spread thousands of gallons of foam on the fire and on the water, which was now full of fuel. The sailboat to port burst into flames as well the 38 foot powerboat to starboard. All in all, 3 boats were lost. Our friend’s boat was a leaking scrap of melted hull as she was towed away. Vacilando? She had two more boats between her and certain peril, but most importantly no lives were lost.
If that photo doesn’t scare the hell out of you then you can probably stop reading right about now. I did some checking… Do you know that 55% of all boat fires are due to faulty AC/DC wiring or appliances? 24% are caused by engine or transmissions overheating and only 8% are related to fuel leaks. Staggering. You can read an informative article about these causes here.
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[…] incident, I never dog down the hatches in our v-berth when we go to bed. I try not to think about that day too often, but this past weekend I got a sobering reminder that little things can cause big […]
Whoa. That’s all I can say. I’m now terrified about our electrical wiring. We had the world’s worst electrician back in New York. I’m so glad you guys are okay.
Tasha – it was so scary and surreal. I still can’t stop thinking about the what ifs – it was awful but it could have been so much worse. I just keep thinking about that little boy and how relieved we were when we saw them all getting off the boat. We will definitely be addressing our wiring after this.
We met the gentleman in question when Mel and Chris had us over, and he was one of the sweetest, nicest people we’d ever met. Our prayers are with him and his family, and of course we’re so glad that Vacilando’s crew is ok. Not going back to sleep now…
I was waiting for this post. It was a very scary day indeed. I’ll say it again like I said it before; There has got to be a reason for all these events surrounding you lately. The universe is preparing you for the real world of cruising, the bad and the ugly, you’ve got the good part down! I know you will learn from these experiences and use them to be prepared for anything that comes your way in the future! AND if nothing else, I hope you have been chosen to just be the ones to ask these questions to us, so that we too, will be better prepared, HeavenForbid! Love you guys so glad you were fine, I’m still praying for our friend! xox
I hope that these event are happening for preparation JUST IN CASE and not because we'll ever need to use all of this knowledge/preparedness. But better to have the knowledge and never need it than to need it and not know what to do. I learned several new things this week, from first aid, how not to just throw water on a fire where gas is in the mix, etc. It definitely makes you think.
That is really scary. We had an old woman in our marina burn her boat down with an alcohol stove, but it was NOTHING like that.
That is scary. And to think you were too close to the explosion incident. Glad to hear that no one died.
Mel and Chris, Reading this post and seeing the pictures are just plain scary!! I think your Angel was there again with yall, and thank God those people people were not killed. I hope your friend is okay from his burns. And also a great big thanks for the post, so other boaters will think about their fire extinquishers ect…. Love you both. Darla
Thank you Aunt Darla! We do have a pretty special Angel looking out for us… ;)
Love and miss you!
holy crap. that is SO scary, and you guys are absolute heros for the actions you took. you certainly must be dealing with a bit of PTSD after an event like that. a miracle all survived, albeit badly burned for the dad….hope his recovery goes smoothly…excellent article about safety you wrote…sending love and peace to you both!!
Heroes, no. In fact I always liked to think that one of my strong suits was being able to remain calm in the midst of chaos. I was a total blubberfest on the phone w/911 because I was trying to process what was happening in real time while trying to explain it to the operator. Total panic. Chris, however, was an excellent example of calm, quick thinking, and brave, as were the others that were first on the scene.
Chris & Mel, so glad you two are okay. I’ve always known Chris to be quite capable in stressful situations. It’s in his DNA and the product of having been raised by a Marine. If we can do anything for you, please let us know.
Thanks for checking in Brian! Hope all is well.