Residents living in the neighbourhood near Twin Eagles and Random Road in qathet Regional District acted quickly on the Sunday afternoon of August 11, when witnesses said they noticed thick smoke and flames near the seashore at around 12:55 pm.
Mitch Kenyon and Brian McRae were at home having lunch when they received a call from their neighbours about seeing smoke and flames.
"Our neighbours were calling us and asking if we saw the smoke, so we ran down because we thought maybe it was actually a wildfire," said Kenyon.
McRae said there was smoke blowing up from the beach.
“We thought maybe our boat ramp was on fire," he added.
But what they saw turned out to be a fiberglass boat that was on fire and on the rocks in front of their property.
"Kudos to the local firefighters for putting out the fire, as it wasn't an easy task, given that their truck couldn’t get close to the fire because of the 50-foot-high bank," said Kenyon. "Hoses were dragged down through thick blackberry brambles in order to put out the fire."
Kenyon and McCrae said paramedics, Canadian Coast Guard and Powell River RCMP also showed up.
"Before I saw the boat, I was really concerned that the fire was going to come up and burn our house," said Kenyon. "The next day, a team from Powell River Divers got much of the debris removed, and just in time as the weather turned and the water got rough."
Malaspina Fire Department firefighter Frank McCorkell said the boat was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived on scene.
"It was a steep bank, so it was difficult to get there, for one thing, and when we got down there, we deployed a bunch of hose and we put it out," he added.
The occupant who was in the boat and swam ashore ended up in another boat.
"I wanted to make sure he was okay, but the boater wouldn't come to shore," said McCorkell. "All I know is he [the boater] had bailed out of the boat, and the boat ran aground and sat there and burnt.”
Kenyon said the boater came by his property a couple of times to take photos, so they had a chance to talk to him.
"He had talked to one of our neighbours when he first got off the boat, and that's when he said the carpet had caught on fire, and he had to abandon ship"
Kenyon said he was a little disappointed that the restoration of the beach didn't start until 24 hours later, after the insurance company was called.
Powell River Divers came by Sunday evening to check things out and were back the next morning to mitigate the damage.
"They put a lot of the loose debris into two large landscaping bags and used a saw to further remove some debris, but the hulk of the ship still remains on the beach," said Kenyon.
MacRae and Kenyon said they are just happy the boater is okay.
"I'm glad it wasn't worse; the last thing we wanted was that someone's been burned badly, drowned or died," said McRae. "It's sad to lose a boat, but that's so manageable in the overall scheme of things."
Luckily, the community and emergency services acted quickly to take care of the incident and no one was injured.
"The fire was below the high-tide mark so it wasn't too serious except for blowing embers," said McCorkell. "There was no potential for anything to be ignited from that fire."
Malaspina Fire Department has been busy this past weekend. On Sunday, earlier in the day, McCorkell said firefighters had been out on a first responder call. The previous morning around 1:30 am, he said they were paged to a wildfire out in Saltery Bay.
"We worked with the forestry [department] and supplied them with water," said McCorkell. "We had one engine that was up there, and we had three firefighters working with them."
He said the Saltery Bay area does not have its own fire department and because it's been so dry, the Malaspina department was called in to supply enough water to contain the blaze.
Coastal Fire Centre reported that a wildfire discovered near Park Creek in the Saltery Bay area on Sunday, August 11, is now classified as being held, meaning that, based on fuel and weather conditions and resource availability, the 0.63 hectare fire is projected to remain within the current perimeter, control line or boundary.
Kenyon made a video of the events that happened on Sunday, August 11. The Youtube video is titled: Fire on the Salish Sea.
Join the Peak’s email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
