Feeling VERY lucky right now

JoeStang

So we had a line of storms roll through yesterday afternoon. Typical sideways rain, lots of lightning, and flash flooding. I was at my office for the duration, and then got a nice 1.5 hour ride home due to downed power lines and flooding.

Anyways, at 1130pm I'm getting ready to go to bed and on one of the local forums I read that there was a FIRE at my marina.  :-O

So I quickly sort through the pictures posted and discover that it was in another area of my marina, but it was NEXT TO MY SLIP LAST YEAR. I really really wanted the same spot this season, but the well was sold and the new owners keep their boat there.

The boat that burned was likely hit by lightning, and obviously is a total loss. There's some mostly cosmetic damage to the neighboring boats, but I'm sure they'll be out of the water for some time.

Whats scary is that my fuel filler is right where the majority of the damage to the pontoon is, so who knows what would have happened.

212rowboat

That's nuckin futs... Man, lady luck looked your way, even when you were thinking she was a cold cold slice of ham... Happy it wasn't you, but man, that poor fella and those around him.... Ouch...

JoeStang

RinkerYan said:

Another vote for Diesels!

I wasnt aware that diesel is a lightning deterrent?  :-?

And actually it was just the fiberglass that burned, I doubt any gas was spilled or burned, as the boat would not have stayed above the water if that happened. Its really scary to think "what if" the fire fighting boat didnt get there so quick, because wind+fire can take out A LOT of close-quarter boats, thats for sure.

raybo3

Holy smokes.... Glad your boat is ok but what a mess. Boats can be replaced thank God no one was hurt.

MarkB

Wow, that sucks for everyone who's boat was affected. Could be end of the summer boating season for them.

Black_Diamond

Amazing the whole marina didn't go up.  good job by the fire department to limit the damage.

JoeStang

Yeah for sure. Here's a quote from someone that lives right next to the marina.

I live about 1000 feet south of the Island Cove fire (less than 1/4 mile)

Wife & I were inside watching the tremendous cloud cover roll in, with the associated wind & rain.

About 5:10 pm, we heard the un-mistakable "CRACK" when lightening actually strikes a nearby object. A lot different than just thunder up in the sky.

We could see the lightening bolt directly north of our home. It was very close.

About 2-3 minutes later, during the torrential downpour, black billowing clouds of smoke began rising from the area of Island Cove marina.

Lucky for the other boaters at Island Cove. AS marinas go, this one's no different, with full rows of boats, literally about 3-5 feet from each other, if that.

MCSD happened to have a few guys in the boat house at the end of S. River Rd.

Everything seemed to go with luck in everyone's favor on this one.

Lightening strike & resulting fire called into 911 almost immediately.

MCSD Marine division just happened to have personnel at boathouse to dispatch and man 2 response boats, with high volume fire pumps aboard.

MCSD distance from boathouse to Island Cove fire was only 1 mile. At 30 MPH, it would have only taken them 2 minutes to reach the scene.

The accompanying heavy rainfall may have helped dampen the resulting fire, or at least help keep it from spreading more rapidly to adjacent boats.

Fiberglass boats burn pretty quickly since they're mostly constructed from petroleum products. Once 2-3 of these get ignited in a row, its pretty hard to stop the fire from spreading to the whole row of boats, and/or the whole marina.

TikiHut2

While the fireboat is great, there's a pump truck with what looks like foam only 20' from the boat. If that boat would've been out on the end of a typical finger dock or in a tighter area as is typical, the whole thing would've definitely ended differently.

Lady luck smiled on you and his neighbors for sure. It also gives me a new thought on choosing a slip that has ready access if it hits the fan. Lightning, man I hate that stuff. So frikken random.

midweste

Whoa, that could have been a lot worse! 

Dream_Inn

Yeah, you are Lucky. This happened in my marina two years ago. My immediate neighbor just made it back in the water on mem day. I just had some ash spots on the hard top that took some scrubbing. Gotta be thankful.