Seattle Injury Lawyer Blog
A spectacular fire destroyed a 105-foot yacht at Fishermen’s Terminal before dawn today, April 27, 2012, just hours before it was due to depart on a 15-day Alaskan cruise.
No one was injured, and a harbor patrol boat managed to tow a half-dozen other boats away from the fire to protect them, said Kyle Moore, Seattle Fire Department spokesman.
The fire call came in at 1:10 a.m., and crews fought the fire with two hoses from shore-each pumping 300 gallons a minute, and a fire boat-pumping 800 gallons a minute. The harbor patrol boat also put water on the yacht. In addition, fire-suppressing foam was put on the boat.
The boat is the Safari Spirit, part of Seattle-based American Safari Cruises, which operates four yachts on Alaska cruises.
“It just couldn’t get that fire knocked down,” Moore said, estimating that flames continued to engulf the yacht until about 5 a.m. It continues to burn this morning and likely will do so for several hours.
Moore said the boat’s owner and its engineer were asleep when they heard a popping sound.
At first, it wasn’t clear whether anyone was still on the yacht. So firefighters made sure everyone was off, then took a defense approach to the blaze.
A 45-foot response boat from Coast Guard Station Seattle is enforcing a 200-yard safety zone around the terminal and assisted in deploying containment and absorbent boom in the area to mitigate impact to the environment.
According to the American Safari Cruises website, the Safari Spirit was scheduled to leave Friday on a 15-day Alaska cruise from Seattle to Juneau and back.
For more information and a video of the blaze see http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Watch-Dramatic-fire-destroys-yacht-at-3515485.php