My first winter aboard, the boat 2 slips down from mine caught fire when the plug joining an extension cord to a heater or bubbler (I forget which, it was 6 years ago) wound up underneath a cockpit seat cushion. Needless to day, I'm already constantly on edge about the risk of fire, so I really didn't appreciate seeing a subject that I mistook for a message from my marina while at work. Thank God I don't have a heart condition.
Cheers, Kris On Fri, Jan 07, 2011 at 12:57:06PM -0500, Ron Rogers wrote: > George, the boat, and I are safe. The Red Cross has several of us in the > Days Inn as the entire marina has been declared a HAZMAT AREA. We will not > be permitted back on our boats for two days - for now. May lose my > refrigerator load of food, but some people lost their homes and all their > records - escaping with their lives. Over 30 boats were consumed by an > unbelievable conflagration. The shed area was fully involved in under 10 > minutes - but escape was not possible after 5 minutes. I've been up all > night and just got in my motel room. Fire was stopped 4 boats from my boat. > Everything past that point is gone. Two people with minor burns and one in > the hospital for hypothermia. > > The Bunyon Volunteer Fire Department was magnificent having recently > developed techniques to move large volumes of water over long distances to > fight marina fires. They ran a 5 inch hose along with two conventional 3 > inch hoses 4 boats past me and made their stand there. Chocowinity VFD > coupled two pumpers to produce enough pressure to fire across the fairway > from an adjacent pier and attack a boat on fire towards the end of our pier. > The boats in the shed were fully involved and beyond hope instantly. The > fire started in the shorepower inlet on a Mainship power boat next to a > friend's houseboat. He escaped in bare feet and long johns having foolishly > tried to fight the fire with a disconnected garden hose. His finger pier > went up in flames preventing his return to his home for a single possession. > > A neighbor alerted me and came back to ensure that George and I were getting > off the boat. As we disembarked, the houseboat owner was standing on the > ice-coated pier in bare feet. He had come back from the shore to confirm > that George and I got off! The man is around 80 and has lost everything. I > had contemplated losing everything as I watched the fire advance from the > destroyed shed towards us - what can you do but cheer on the fire fighters. > The Bath VFD responded in under 20 minutes. It takes me 20 minutes to drive > there in my car! They told me that they encountered no traffic. Mike, the > neighbor who alerted us was thinking about getting his boat out. I > encouraged him to do it. He did and proceeded to rescue 3 people on the > outside end of our pier - just outside the shed. They burned their hands > slipping their lines and Mike hip-towed their sailboat away from the burning > dock and saved the woman who had jumped in the water in understandable > panic. I worked with two Sheriff's deputies to remove two liveaboards from > an adjacent dock. One was confused and resisted, but not for long! I > informed the firefighters which boats had gas engines and they directed a > heavy mist nozzle to keep those boats cool. As a result,. there were no > explosions. > > The Red Cross was there in a large ambulance type truck with coffee and > food. Terrific people. The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office was there in > strength and performed in a professional and caring manner. The Hobucken > USCG arrived to cope with the pollution and a boom is now surrounding the > entire marina. Al Golden's insurance company called me to see if we were OK > and if there was anything they could do! Me sleep now. > > Ron Rogers > _______________________________________________ > Liveaboard mailing list > [email protected] > To adjust your membership settings over the web > http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard > To subscribe send an email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ > > To search the archives > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > The Mailman Users Guide can be found here > http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html -- St. Kiwano the Incorrigible, Observer of Hate v kiwano.melon.org /\ /\ "The desert is an illusion but the dust, )'( / \ )`( the dust is real" --Reza Negarestani _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
