Burning boat drifts, sparks blaze on docks, other boats
STAMFORD — Firefighters by sea and land battled an inferno that burned several boats, a floating tiki bar and multiple docks Saturday afternoon.
Five fire departments, including a fire boat from New York City, attacked flames spread by a drifting boat.
“It was a slow-motion disaster,” Peter Adler of Darien said.
A boat fire at the gas dock at Hinckley boat yard, 2 Selleck St., was reported at 3:37 p.m. Engine 3 found a fully involved boat close to the dock and began stretching hoses, but the boat was adrift and was pushed across to the east side of the canal by the prevailing wind, according to the Stamford Fire Department.
The deputy chief at the scene ordered all responding fire units to redirect to Harbor Point Road on the east side of the canal.
The drifting boat carried its fire to a dock behind Beacon Apartments, where flames spread to the dock, three other boats and a floating tiki bar, the department said. Firefighters along Pacific Street and in the water attacked the fire.
“After we docked, I joined a small crowd at the end of the dock,” said Adler, who captured photos and video as he sailed into the area. “By that time, the initial boat had drifted across the river, fetched up against the first boat tied up at the north end of the tiki dock.”
“Eventually,” he said, “the first boat drifted along the dock and the tiki bar caught fire,” he added.
The original burning boat and a second, by then also on fire, drifted south until they were corralled about 200 feet from the main fire, according to the Stamford Fire Department.
“There was a large sailboat at Ponus YC, but fortunately, just before the drifting boats would have reached it, it was manned and moved out of harm’s way,” Adler said.
The original boat’s fuel tank ruptured, starting a floating fuel fire near the southern section of the dock at Harbor Point. That fire threatened the northernmost dock and additional boats moored at the Ponus Yacht Club.
“At some point, some people in a couple of small boats were attempting to help, and it appeared that one of them tossed an anchor onto one of the drifting, burning boats and managed to tow it away from other moored boats,” Adler said.
A second separate waterand land-based firefighting effort was mounted by additional fire units on Pacific Street using two additional hose lines, and by fire boats in the canal, according to the Stamford Fire Department.
The southern fire was quickly controlled and firefighting foam was used to finish extinguishing all of the boats and to douse the leaking fuel, according to the Stamford Fire Department.
The blaze was declared under control at 4:52 p.m. The cause remains under investigation.
The Stamford Fire Department sent five engines, two truck companies, one rescue company, the deputy chief and a safety officer, for a total of 35 personnel.
Two Norwalk Fire Department marine units, the Greenwich Police marine unit, the Noroton Fire Department marine unit from Darien, FDNY Marine 4 from New York City, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Tow Boat U.S. and Stamford police and EMS units also responded, according to Stamford Fire Department reports..
Adler said most of the boats that responded did not have firefighting capabilities.