Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Massive boat fire leaves 2 injured
The Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale shut down after blaze causes smoke to be seen miles away from 60-foot sport fisherman
FORT LAUDERDALE — A massive boat fire injured two people and shut down the Intracoastal Waterway for about two hours near Oakland Park Boulevard on Sunday afternoon.
Nine people and a dog were forced to jump from the blazing boat as witnesses took pictures of the huge cloud of smoke that could be seen for miles.
The 60-foot sport fisherman caught fire directly behind the Shooters restaurant, at 3033 Northeast 32nd Ave. just south of Oakland Park Boulevard, according to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan.
“The boat was going down the middle of the Intracoastal and caught on fire,” said Peter Lopez, director of operations at Shooters. “The boat captain was pretty quick to react. As the fire spread real quick, he dropped the anchor down, that way the boat couldn’t go off and damage anything.”
Lopez, 56, of Fort Lauderdale, was about 150 yards away from the boat when it caught fire. He said he watched four people jump off the boat into the water. He said a police boat was nearby, and the people were rescued from the water almost immediately, Lopez said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission was in the area conducting a traffic stop when officers saw smoke coming from the boat, Gollan said.
Seven adults, two children and a dog were on board. All jumped off and were rescued by police boats before being taken back to shore for evaluation, Gollan said.
“The smoke was overtaking us,” Lopez said from the restaurant. “It was so powerful. So toxic.”
The dockside restaurant had only been doing takeout and curbside service, but he said they had to close the sliding glass doors that led from the dock to
the main bar area because the smoke was so thick.
It was a busy afternoon on the Intracoastal with a lot of people on the water, according to Lopez.
“It was a typical Intracoastal Fort Lauderdale Sunday,” he said. “Within 500 yards radius from that boat, there were probably 30 boats.”
One adult and one child had minor injuries, according to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue. The child had minor burns on an arm or leg and was taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderadale. The adult was treated at the scene.
No other information on the boaters was available Sunday night. The FWC is investigating, said spokeswoman Carol Lyn Parrish.
The Intracoastal Waterway was shut down about 3:30 p.m. but reopened after 5 p.m., according to Gollan. Nearby roads remained open.
Photos provided by Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor Steve Glassman show huge clouds of black smoke emanating from the fire visible from blocks away.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Glassman said he heard a loud explosion just before 3 p.m. from his home and turned around to see and smell the smoke.
“It just happened to be pretty much in my backyard,” Glassman said. “You don’t see that every day.”
People gathered to take photos and videos of the scene, including condominium residents and bicyclists who had a view of the smoking boat.
Micaela Restrepo was riding her bike with her friend Payton Kadivar when she heard sirens. She didn’t see any police cars or ambulances so she rode down to Northeast 28th Street when she saw the smoke billowing from the boat.
“The heat from the boat was so strong,” Restrepo, 18, of Fort Lauderdale, said. “It was getting hotter as the flames got bigger.”
Kadivar said she saw the boat in the middle of the water before crews brought it to the seawall to continue their work from the shore.
“We felt the heat of the fire and the firefighter boat started spraying the boat causing the smoke to turn white,” Kadivar, 18, of Fort Lauderdale, said. “We then saw the first responders bring the boat towards the sea wall to get it out of the middle and about 45 minutes later, we saw boats begin to pass.”