Firefighters creatively extinguish boat fire

The Wareham Fire Department was forced to find a creative solution to a boat fire in Crab Cove Sunday, May 25.

According to a Wareham Fire Department Facebook post, around 1:05 p.m. on Sunday, the boat with three passengers caught fire near the shore and the Tempest Knob Boat Ramp.

“What happened is they got stuck, the boat stalled, they tried to start it and they likely overheated the starter,” Wareham Assistant Fire Chief Mark Rogers said. “It seems to be an accidental fire due to mechanical failure.”

The three passengers were not injured but due to the boat sitting in shallow water, the fire department was unable to extinguish the fire by boat and had to find another solution, according to the fire department’s post.

Firefighters then moved their equipment to Parkwood Beach and wrapped the hose around neighboring houses to get at the boat and put the fire out from the shore.

“I’ve been in the [fire] business over 45 years and this is the first time I’ve had to fight a boat fire that far out from land,” he said. “We had pretty good access to the marsh and we stretched a line out from the engine in a little less than knee deep water.”

Once the fire was extinguished, the fire department and members of the Wareham Department of Natural Resources got the boat out of the water utilizing the owner’s trailer, preventing any further damage to the surrounding area.

In an email to Wareham Week, resident Mark Hays said he witnessed the fire from his house and added he was surprised “how fiercely the boat burned, and how difficult it was to put out the fire.”

“Initially I thought a neighbor's house was on fire and scrambled to get dressed to see if I could help,” Hays said. “When I got to the large windows in our “view” room I saw that a boat was aground at the entrance to Crab Cove.”

Hays added he witnessed the firefighters figure out the best way to extinguish the fire too.

“Wareham Fire trucks rolled down Crab Cove Terrace along the shore and parked opposite the boat. After a delay, one of the boats tried to get a fire nozzle going,” he said. “Three Wareham Firemen began wrestling a line out, wading through the mud and got within range to douse the fire.”

The U.S. Coast Guard, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Massachusetts Environmental Police also responded to the incident.