Fire preparedness at your marina

LaRea

Have you and your dockmates ever discussed what to do if a boat catches fire in your marina?  Does your marina provide slipholders with information about fire response procedures?

As if there's not already enough going on in my life:  Last night, a really nice Cruisers 330 burned and sank on the dock next to mine.  Injuries were minor.  One adjacent boat was moved without damage.  Another had severe heat damage and might be a total loss.  In this video from a news helicopter, my Rinker (which is sold but not yet delivered) is just out of view.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0FLAGMQ1bM

That's the only video you'll see from public media.  We did not let press onto the property.  During the chaos, we saw a guy walking around dressed like a police officer -- black body armor, lots of radios, wearing a sidearm -- except the banners on his chest and back said "PRESS".  We made him leave, as the club is private property.  

There's rampant speculation about the cause of the fire.  We'll see.  

TonyG13

Glad your boat wasn't involved and no one hurt. Amazing how much mess is created. 

aero3113

You’re very lucky! Good thing it wasn’t windy!

LaRea

Yes, it's a huge mess.  No boats can enter or leave, as the fairway is blocked off with oil booms to contain the petroleum and fire suppressants.  We're trying to get a salvage company in today to raise her.  

Irony:  Almost exactly one year ago, I started writing a fire preparedness plan for our all-volunteer marina.  Unfortunately, the importance did not register with the Board or other boaters.  Nobody volunteered to help me, and I never finished it.  

I won't speculate on whether the plan would have improved our outcome of this fire, but I'd like to finish what I started last year.  That's why I'm asking what your marinas do.  

Dream_Inn

Fires in a marina is a terrible thing with boats that are basically bombs ready to go off with tanks of fuel.  The first year I bought my current  boat, we had a fire three boats down from me (42 Rinker) catch fire. It was the only boat in the water, the rest were up on lifts as it was middle of week at 4am in the morning.  Luckily the boat next to it, one over from me, burned enough until it split in half and fell off lift and sunk.  The intitial 420 that caught fire luckily siunk too, only because it was floating instead of being up on its lift.  It only burned the side of the 420 next to me and took out dinghy and canvas.  I got lucky cause the 420 and mine were both full of gas.  When I spoke to the firefighters the next day, they had no idea while standing on my neighbors 420 swim platform (that I share finger pier with), that the fire was burning within inches of outside of fuel tank.  His boat took 2 years to get repaired!  I got very lucky!

curious what caused your fire.  Ours was stupidity.  An open flame, candle, while the owner was showering in marina bathroom.  Hmmm

YYZRC

Dream_Inn said:

curious what caused your fire.  Ours was stupidity.  An open flame, candle, while the owner was showering in marina bathroom.  Hmmm

I mean, if you are going to commit insurance fraud and harm the environment in the process, at least have some respect for innocent bystanders. Go anchor out!

LaRea

So, how would you keep this from happening in your marina?  What does your marina do to minimize the risk of injuries and property damage?  Has anybody ever talked about it?



Next morning.  My boat is behind and to the left, on the next pier.

YYZRC

There was a fire at my marina in 2021. Charger shorted out apparently. It seemed like the plan was to let the boat burn until it sank. Adjacent boat was damaged slightly. 

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/barrie/2021/5/19/1_5434836.html

LaRea

NFPA 303 is a fire protection standard for marinas.  One of the recommendations in NFPA 303 is for the marina to provide boaters with clear explanations about what to do in case of fire.  

We don't have that, and never have.  

Aqua_Aura

My wife is currently in charge of tracking insurance for the boats and boat houses at our club. She just took it over a few months ago and she is having to clear up a lot of boaters insurance and make sure everyone has proper coverage. Not that it prevents things like fires but it will make sure we are all covered in case of fires or other damage.

LaRea

@Aqua_Aura we're having that discussion now about insurance.  Historically, we've trusted that when a member fills out the annual slip application, the insurance info they enter is valid.  For a volunteer club with 100+ boats, it's not practical to manually verify every policy.  

Aqua_Aura

We have over 100 members and she is verifying each person's insurance. We use smart sheets, scan and track each policy. After she gets it all done this time it will be much easier going forward. The member is responsible for sending her the declaration page for the boat and boat house insurance, she checks it for proper coverage then scans it and inputs it to smart sheets so it tracks dates.

If you started looking into it you would probably find people are not compliant with your Marina requirements, not by negligence just mistakes happen. 


We are all volunteer as well but we each have our jobs to do and these volunteer activities remove our "work" fee from our dues. You can either pay extra each year or do a little work and get that reduced or removed. 

LaRea

@Dream_Inn -- I'm doing my best not to speculate about cause.  The owner is a smart and experienced boater who was aboard when the fire started.  That's all I know for sure.  

I'm talking with the Marina Committee about how we can capture and share the lessons learned.  For example, next to the fire, there was a 36 Carver that survived because a guy cut her lines and pushed her out of her slip.  I'll interview that guy about what he did and what he learned.