Hoping for salvage
Owner looking to see what can be saved after fire
Listed on her side, the charred remains of Sylvialyn II were strapped to an excavator and boom truck, last Monday, it was all that was keeping her at the Cook’s Harbour wharf. The plan was to place air bags underneath her so she could be towed to the beach for demolition.
Owner Paul Caines, of Bartlett’s Harbour, was on the wharf watching the progress.
Other than noting it’s not a very good feeling to see the 65footer, which he’s owned for the last decade or so, in such a hard state, he didn’t have much to say.
“If you’re looking for a good story about what happened here, you’d be best to talk to Barry Decker,” Caines said. “He was here when she caught on fire.”
Nearby, Decker was also checking out the project.
A fisherman himself, he would check on Caines’ boat while looking after his own.
Around 5:30 p.m., that day, he was doing just that.
“I drove around the Paul’s boat and mine, everything looked perfect,” he said. Decker noticed two guys out on the finger peer, getting ready to go out in a boat.”
So he honked a friendly hello with his horn and started head- ing home.
Decker says he wasn’t very far away from the wharf, when shortly after the boaters heard a loud bang and saw a big black puff of smoke came out of here. “They went and got the fire department on the go,” Decker said. “My boat was behind Paul’s so I went and moved mine to the other side of the wharf.”
Once his vessel was away from the flames, Decker, a member of the town’s volunteer fire department, joined in trying to save the Sylvialyn II.
“What we were able to gather from the b’ys who went down with the breathing apparatus’ that there seemed to be a bit of fire around the battery box,” he said. “So, to me, it seems that more or less the battery exploded.”
The department went in with fire extinguishers and doused the suspected area.
According to Decker, there weren’t any flames or a bit of smoke to be seen after this was done.
With everything appearing to be under control, firefighters returned to the hall, while others remained on scene to monitor the situation.
“Me and another guy was filling up our 500-gallon tank on our truck, because we did spray some foam aboard as well, when it seemed like I could see a little bit of smoke coming out of her again,” he said.
So Decker called the members back and the battle to save the Sylvialyn II was underway again. The St. Anthony Fire Department was also called in to help.
“This time, you could see the flames inside of her,” he said.
Decker assumes the flames were in the walls of boat, where the fire couldn’t be seen or reached with water.
“She kept getting worse and worse. We used foam and water — we done it all, but we couldn’t get no headway with it,” Decker said.
“The fire was in between the walls and up in the sleeping quarters where we couldn’t get to it.”
As the water and foam was being pumped aboard the vessel, the Sylvialyn II began to list until she broke her lines and partially sank about 15 feet from the wharf.
“We put pumps in the fish hold trying to keep her pumped out,” Decker said. “But the RCMP told us to get off of her because she was listing too far.”
But you could still see the flames. It wasn’t until 11 p.m. that the department was able to get everything under control.
At 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon, 21 hours after the fire was first noticed, the department was finally able to douse the last of the flames.
“She was stubborn,” he said. “Every time we figured we’d have her under control, she’d flare up again.
Decker said members had to get into a speedboat with hoses to shoot water and foam into the vessel.
“The reason it burned so long is because the foam wasn’t actually getting into where the flames were,” said Decker. “Those boats have got two floors in them and we just couldn’t reach it.”
Environmental concerns
The Coast Guard Environmental Response officers arrived on site Saturday evening and the vessel crew and the local harbour authority deployed a boom. As well, a commercial dive team was on site the morning of Sept. 20. to assess the situation. All fuel vents were plugged and patches installed over holes burnt through the hull.
According to federal Fisheries and Oceans, hydrocarbons were to be removed after the vessel was refloated and stable.
Coast Guard Environmental Response officers continued to monitor the pollution abatement on site, with the objective of reducing the effects of any pollution.
Floating again, Chad Spence was sitting in the cab of the excavator strapped to the Sylvialyn II.
The Port au Choix resident was awaiting the next move in getting the vessel upright.
“We were hoping that she’d come up on her own when we brought her back to the wharf,” he said. “But that didn’t happen.”
The next phase of the plan involved a diver placing airbags underneath the vessel and inflating them to raise the vessel out of the water.
“Once she comes up above her gunnels, we’ll fire up the pumps and when she starts rising then we got her,” he said.
After the vessel was upright, the plan was to haul off whatever gear can be taken off. This would include the A-frame, wenches, front rigging and whatever else is salvageable.
Afterwards, the Sylvialyn II would be towed onto a nearby beach for demolition.
“We put pumps in the fish hold trying to keep her pumped out. But the RCMP told us to get off of her because she was listing too far.” Barry Decker, fisherman, and volunteer firefighter