Three dozen boats lost in marina blaze

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Salvage crews on Saturday were beginning to clear the wreckage from a Lake Union marina fire that damaged or destroyed at least three dozen pleasure boats.

Meanwhile, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said a fireboat should be stationed on the lake, which is just north of downtown. In Friday’s fire, and one at a nearby yacht club in January, the fire department boat had to journey from Seattle’s waterfront through the Ballard locks to reach the scene.

There were no injuries reported at the four-alarm fire Friday night at the Seattle Marina on the north end of Lake Union, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said.

"Everybody was accounted for," Fitzpatrick said Saturday, noting the marina reported 10 live-aboards on the two affected docks. The Red Cross was aiding those displaced by the fire.

"There was an incredible amount of fire," she said, noting that engine and stove fuel and fiberglass "makes for a bigger fire."

At least 15 boats were damaged or destroyed on the marina’s east dock, and 22 were damaged or destroyed on its west dock, Fitzpatrick said. Most of the vessels were 30- to 40-foot pleasure boats. No damage estimate was available Saturday.

Salvage crews were planning to lift wrecked boats onto a barge to be hauled away. Wreckage had to be cleared and docks reinforced before investigators could begin working to determine the cause of the fire, Fitzpatrick said.

At least 100 firefighters personnel responded, as well as the fireboat Chief Seattle. However, the fireboat needed more than 50 minutes to reach the scene from its dock on Elliott Bay. The department’s reserve fireboat also is docked on Elliott Bay.

Some boat owners on Lake Union, where Tom Hanks’ character in "Sleepless in Seattle" kept a houseboat, were furious that the fireboat took so long to arrive.

Nickels said the situation would be addressed.

"I have asked the fire chief for some options, how to place one of the boats, the backup boat, on Lake Union so the job is only to get a crew to the boat, rather than getting a boat through the locks," he said Saturday.

In January, a fire at the Seattle Yacht Club destroyed or damaged about 20 vessels, some of them wooden classics. That fire, which caused damage estimated at about $10 million, was started by an electrical malfunction in one of the boats, investigators believe.

That fire burned in Seattle’s Portage Bay, east of Lake Union and just south of the University of Washington campus. In that case as well, the fireboat had to come from the downtown waterfront, through the locks and through Lake Union to reach the bay.

The boat used in Hanks’ movie was not moored at either of the affected sites.

Friday’s fire, reported at 9:43 p.m., was controlled and largely out by 11 p.m., Fitzpatrick said.

Witnesses reported that a boat exploded in flames on the marina’s east pier, then drifted across to the west pier, setting fire to boats there, she said.

"It was a monster," said Denny Feragen, who lives aboard a tugboat in the 145-slip marina. He said at about 9:30 p.m. he saw "a ball of fire, a little one at first, then it got real big."

"We’ve lost probably 50 percent of our stock," said John Manca of Hanan Yachts, headquartered at the marina. "We had about 42 boats (for sale on consignment) at the dock, and we’ve lost at least half of them."

Justin Wyatt, who has lived aboard his 44-foot Pacemaker motorboat at the marina for seven years, said his was the second vessel to go up.

"I tried to get a hose to put it out, but it was going too fast," he said. "We ran down the dock and knocked on every boat to make sure everyone got out."