A FIRE DESTROYED
14 HOUSE BOATS AT THE WALNUT GROVE MARINA MONDAY MORNING IN CALIFORNIA.
Monday, January 26, 2015
WALNUT GROVE, CALIFORNIA:
Although approximately 14 boats burned at the Walnut
Grove Marina early this morning, destruction could have been much worse if one
flaming watercraft had continued to drift toward a fueling station.
The fire broke out about 12:10 a.m. Monday at the marina
along Snodgrass Slough next to the small Delta community of Walnut Grove. The
cause of the fire is under investigation.
Walnut Grove Fire District Assistant Chief Mark Van
Lobensels said several boats were fully-involved in flames when firefighters
arrived.
Flames were licking up through the covered slips, with
the slips collapsing under the intense heat. Propane tanks were exploding and
smoke was being blown by a heavy wind.
“This is one of the largest and one of the trickiest
fires in recent years because of the separation between land and docks,” Van
Lobensels said. “We had one boat where the ropes burned through and it got out
of containment. It started floating towards the larger slips and fuel docks.”
Luckily, the current brought the boat close enough that
firefighters could pull grab it with poles. Once close enough, water was poured
on the flaming boat.
“It could have been much worse,” Van Lobensels said.
Cosumnes Fire Battalion Chief Paul Zehnder said
firefighters snaked hoses down the docks to fight the blaze, at one point
drawing water from the slough.
“They were able to untie some of the boats and move them
out of the way to prevent the fire from continuing to spread,” he said.
Dennis Fay, who sells boats at the marina, was sleeping
when he and his wife heard a large bang. They went outside and saw boats two or
three slips away fully engulfed in flames.
“It was just red-hot,” he said.
He untied his boat and motored it out into the river to
escape the flames. He stayed there, taking pictures of the spreading fire.
“It looked like a forest fire,” he said on Monday. “It
was burning like crazy.”
The blaze was stoked by the flammable nature of the
boats: fiberglass, propane tanks, fuel and the belongings and furnishings in
the houseboats. Many of the houseboats are only used during the summer and are
not occupied during the colder months.
The couple called 911 and telephoned an employee at the
marina to try to get boats away from the marina. But the fire was burning so
intense they could not get close, flames even melting the metal overhanging
shelters for the watercraft.
“These big boats are tall, these 65-footers were just a
few feet from the top of the roofs, he said. “It was melting everything.”
The Fays live on a houseboat at the marina, 1400 Old
Levee Road. About a half dozen other boats are similarly occupied by residents.
A total of about 300 boats were in slips Sunday night,
said Fay.
“Most of them are houseboats, the majority in the 50 to
60 foot range,” he said. “There’s no telling how it started. And I don’t think
they will ever find out because the boats were burned to the waterline.”
The fire brought firefighters from stations around the
region: Walnut Grove, Courtland Thornton and Cosumnes River Fire District.