| Nov 5th Blaze at Brighton Marina |
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| Written by David Leith | |
 The complete destruction by fire of 2 power boats on Pontoon 15 at Brighton Marina is yet another reminder of fire safety onboard. The incident starting, with little irony on bonfire night, could have been inordinately worse had the weather conditions not been so calm. It is a frightening thing to see a boat burn out, and within minutes of ignition the 38 foot power boat was beyond any possible attempts to salvage. The single occupant, who was apparently working with diesel, was evacuated to the general hospital with bad burns and a degree of shock, and is deemed to be stable and recovering well.As I was nearby I joined a group of other yachtsman and marina staff establishing he was the only occupant and that the adjoining boat was also vacant. We then launched a bid to clear any vessels nearby from immediate danger, not perhaps the most sensible course of action but, as they say, it seemed a good idea at the time. The fire brigade arriving enforce and at speed took a good 10 to 15 minutes to establish themselves. The fifty or so officers took time to reach the burning vessels, not surprising as the fire was on Pontoon 15 and not close to the shore. The addition of the Coast Guard and RNLI conspired to bring in additional support from the water side and were able to douse the flames at the stern of the primary vessel, unreachable from the pontoon where the Fire Brigade had set up. The fire officers and support vessels used a foam mixture primarily to avoid sinking the burning boats before the fire was put out. The danger being that leaking any fuel would alight and spread the fire across the marina. In the end both vessels sunk in their berths. The anti pollution crew in attendance, working with the waterborne support, were able to put a boom around the area to contain escaping fuel and the area was then covered with absorbent pads to further restrict the possibility of diesel or oil escaping. Other Lessons may be learned in the aftermath, but I can say that in any marina environment help to subdue a major fire is not going to be quick at hand. And on that basis it is worth looking to your own fire safety equipment such as engine room extinguishers, isolated fire retardant gas lockers etc. After being far too close to a gas cylinder exploding I can say that I will be installing a fire retardant gas locker on my boat so if the worst does ever happen I may indirectly save lives by buying extra time after a fire has taken hold. I can also recommend something simple, which is knowing where your knife is - panicky fumbling in the dark trying to untie seemingly impossible knots mooring lines to save a boat is in no way productive. In any other situation cutting a rope grieves me considerably, however I was only too pleased of what short work my Leatherman made of stout lines. My sympathy goes out to the injured man and to the owner of the other wrecked vessel, and praise to the speedy, fearless, and perhaps foolhardy group that made such short work of clearing the area. Rum's on me. And of course the emergency services deserve full credit for bringing the situation under control. My personal thanks also to the fireman who enabled me to leave the hammer head, on which I was rapidly becoming cut off by the blaze, by running "block" against the fire. Also the speed and response of the Marina staff, Coast Guard and RNLI all deserve mention. If you come down to Brighton and find your boat moved and your mooring lines have contracted then sorry about that... One final note I was told by passing WPC the evacuated boat owners were all huddling up in the cold up the Mermaid Walk and the restaurants refused to shelter them "unless they bought a meal" not, I would suggest, very sporting, we know who you are! I shall eat elsewhere in future! Related Items: |
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