Two Yachts Destroyed In Fire At Fort Lauderdale Marina...

Can't wait to find out what caused it. It's a cryin' shame. Seeing your dream become a floating charcoal briquet. I really don't know how I'd react if one of those were my boat...probably go find a quiet bar overlooking the Ocean and get drunk....oh wait I already do that. Well I'd come up with something. I mean it's too late to run to Publix and buy a BIG bag of marshmallows.

A fire of this magnitude and no one injured is a very lucky day. Then on top of that they were able to separate the other boats. Between that and pumping fuel out their response sounds very good. It will be interesting to determine the cause, but right now I'm just very thankful for no injuries, no loss of life, and limiting what could have been so much worse.

I wonder what method/fittings the fire department had on hand to pump out fuel during the fire. A skinny hose to slide down the fill? Perhaps the fireboat is equipped for that?

The way the article was written, I perceived the action as being during the incident, not after at cleanup.

Here is another news story about the fire with pics showing our fire boat battling the flames using fire retardant foam.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article7395488.html#/tabPane=tabs-c837affa-1

From the City of Ft Lauderdale's website:

Marine Rescue
The City of Fort Lauderdale is known as the Venice of America for its many and vast inland waterways, as well as the Atlantic Ocean and shoreline. The considerable amount of boat traffic is often greater than the automobile traffic encountered in many cities. An effective Marine Rescue Team is maintained by providing proper equipment and training to Firefighter/Paramedics.
The Marine Rescue Team, based at Station 49, specializes in shipboard firefighting and dive rescue. The team is staffed by 5 personnel and is equipped to respond by either land or water with an engine company, a medical rescue company and the only fireboat in Broward County.

Station 49 is located on the water adjacent to the Bahia Mar Marina which is the main site of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

After reading about such tragedies I hope folks thinking of visiting Ft Lauderdale by the water find it comforting to know that the City is prepared to handle such emergencies.

What would be interesting would be to know how many marinas have fire pumps and the nature of them. They are not expensive. Now in this case, I can't imagine anything having been done better in terms of handling the fire once discovered. There may also be note made that this facility does not have security that walks the grounds at night. But I'm not sure that would have sped things up or changed anything unless he just happened to walk by those boats at the exact best time.

I have tremendous respect for firefighters and am thankful for the boat mentioned. I do however wish the city had more. I thought I understood fire fighting a bit until my wife and I took a hands on course in fighting boat fires.

From the article, it looks like perhaps a Yellowfin for the fire boat? Nice fireboat! I noticed the angle of the vhf antenna, leaning slightly forward. I have not see an antenna adjusted so as to be vertical while running.

Actually it is a $168,000.00 28 foot McKee Craft.

http://code11.smugmug.com/Fire-Apparatus-Photography/FL-Rigs/Florida-Fire-Apparatus-2012/i-TGkf3SH

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2004-12-12/news/0412110505_1_boat-city-s-waterways-firefighters

WOW! McKee Craft has come a long way. Great new designs. Sleek with Florida lines.

I had a little 14' McKee that I loved with a 48 Special on the back.. Had 2 livewells, console, casting platform. Cool little boat. Lost in a hurricane. .

The same happened to a 92' Cheoy Lee some 12 years ago: It burned at a yard up the New River.
A guy bought it for a song from the insurance company and did a partial rebuild, the sold it a couple of years later for another song, but with a reasoanble profit.
I ended up baby sitting the boat for Hurricane Wilma In 2005.
It still had the smoky smell inside despite local damage and cleaning, repairs, etc.

For an update...or in some ways a non update. The Fort Lauderdale Fire Marshal could not determine the cause. So, they will now coordinate with insurance companies and with electrical engineers, fire debris analysis experts and the yachts' manufacturers to go over what remains. This won't start until late February or March.

It's my understanding that they were able to remove the boats from the water with a crane.