I posted a whole long story and lost it. Oh well, I'll do it again but shorter. Paul & I were working on shore. We had the generator going with an impact gun and had the radio on pretty loud, we didn't hear the explosion, a truck that come flying past on the dirt road got our attention. Nobody was hurt, one boat got all blowed up then another three got burnt, two sunk. it happened at about 6:30-6:40am on thursday, an hour earlier nobody would have been around except the security guard andd at least a dozen would have burned. there were two guys on the docks when we got there and another two arrived about the same time. We all grabbed hoses, but there was almost no water pressure, so we shut off all but two to make those two useful. Three of us started moving boats and the other three manned the hoses and called for more help.
This pic was taken while waiting for the hoist that the boat is on to go down. The hoist's control box was locked and nobody had a knife to cut the hoses, so we started with moving the boats out of the slips you see empty here, a couple minutes later somebody had a knife and we cut the hoses. By this time the marina's fire boat had arrived and was hitting the flaming boats pretty good. Another one with a set up that mixes suppressant foam with the water is on it's way and just about to arrive.
whoever the guy was who cut the back rope on the fire side once that boat was floating was much braver than myself. I got halfway out on that dock and turned around. The boat has insurance and was already blistering from the heat, I'm fond of my skin. He soaked himself with a hose, held his breath and came out 20 seconds later having cut the rope. I'm sure he did it by feel with his eyes closed, the smoke was completely black. Someone had wanted to get in the water and swim to cut the rope, BAD IDEA. never get in the water around a boat fire - fuel or oil spreads out everywhere as soon as it hits the water, if that happens you'll not get back out.
the empty slip just the the right is where that boat had been, the hoist in the slip straight ahead is a loss, tanks pretty scorched. maybe burned through in places.
The park service fire fighters showed up from less than 3 miles away 45 minutes after the security guard called them, about a half hour after us and were royal dicks to everybody. The first thing they did upon arrival (aside from the yelling) was to try to start two chain saws and a gas powered circular saw. what they thought they were going to cut through with the chain saws IF they had been able to start them is a mystery to everyone. The docks are wood on top, but steel channel underneath. A fight almost ensued when they announced they intended to cut loose the flaming boats. There was a good breeze going that would have sent the flaming boats straight into a whole other row of boats. The fire was completely under control at that point, all boats that had been in jeopardy were moved out of the way, the flames were 1/4 the intensity that they had been. I heard one guy manning a hose on the marina's fire boat tell a fireman "touch this hose again I will knock you the fuck out."
nobody was hurt. But one woman who had been moving to Vegas had all of her possessions stored on her boat
This pic was taken while waiting for the hoist that the boat is on to go down. The hoist's control box was locked and nobody had a knife to cut the hoses, so we started with moving the boats out of the slips you see empty here, a couple minutes later somebody had a knife and we cut the hoses. By this time the marina's fire boat had arrived and was hitting the flaming boats pretty good. Another one with a set up that mixes suppressant foam with the water is on it's way and just about to arrive.
whoever the guy was who cut the back rope on the fire side once that boat was floating was much braver than myself. I got halfway out on that dock and turned around. The boat has insurance and was already blistering from the heat, I'm fond of my skin. He soaked himself with a hose, held his breath and came out 20 seconds later having cut the rope. I'm sure he did it by feel with his eyes closed, the smoke was completely black. Someone had wanted to get in the water and swim to cut the rope, BAD IDEA. never get in the water around a boat fire - fuel or oil spreads out everywhere as soon as it hits the water, if that happens you'll not get back out.
the empty slip just the the right is where that boat had been, the hoist in the slip straight ahead is a loss, tanks pretty scorched. maybe burned through in places.
The park service fire fighters showed up from less than 3 miles away 45 minutes after the security guard called them, about a half hour after us and were royal dicks to everybody. The first thing they did upon arrival (aside from the yelling) was to try to start two chain saws and a gas powered circular saw. what they thought they were going to cut through with the chain saws IF they had been able to start them is a mystery to everyone. The docks are wood on top, but steel channel underneath. A fight almost ensued when they announced they intended to cut loose the flaming boats. There was a good breeze going that would have sent the flaming boats straight into a whole other row of boats. The fire was completely under control at that point, all boats that had been in jeopardy were moved out of the way, the flames were 1/4 the intensity that they had been. I heard one guy manning a hose on the marina's fire boat tell a fireman "touch this hose again I will knock you the fuck out."
nobody was hurt. But one woman who had been moving to Vegas had all of her possessions stored on her boat
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Glad you made it out of there ok - do you work at that marina regularly?