A boat moored offshore in Sechelt Inlet being used as a home was burned beyond repair Thursday, Aug. 1, despite the best efforts of nearby sailors and the Sechelt volunteer fire department.
Michelle Burns, captain of Mermaid Boat Tours, was just leaving the government dock on a 3 p.m. tour when she saw what appeared to be barbecue smoke coming from the live-aboard vessel nearby MacKenzie's Marina.
"But then it got big really quickly, so I went over to check it out and make sure nobody was on board, and on my way over I called Don MacKenzie. I thought about calling the police or fire, but I didn't know how they would get there quickly enough," Burns said, adding no one was on the former dive vessel turned house-boat.
MacKenzie, a veteran tugboat operator with MacKenzie Sea Services and owner of the nearby marina, said he would respond.
"It's kind of a rule at sea that automatically you have to respond to distress situations," MacKenzie said, adding police, fire and ambulance were also alerted. "Our one tug is equipped for firefighting, so we fired it up, and some of my son's crew from Diversified Marine came aboard with us. And then by the time we got away, there were two or three volunteers from the Sechelt volunteer fire department who came out with us also."
Although the fire department seems the natural agency to respond, Sechelt Fire Chief Bill Higgs explained fires at sea aren't within the volunteer department's jurisdiction.
"We helped out not because we were obligated to or had any legal authority to, but because, if we left it, what we thought would happen is the burning vessel would eventually burn off its moorings and come ashore and start a fire," Higgs said. "There's no fire protection on the water. You're your own fire department, really."
Thanks to the pumps and firefighting equipment MacKenzie had on board his tug, the boat fire was put out within about 20 minutes with crews careful not to use too much water for fear of sinking the ship.
Volunteer firefighters then entered the vessel to ensure there were no hot spots left.
Higgs said they won't be investigating the cause of the fire as it's not in their jurisdiction; however, Sunshine Coast RCMP noted a faulty battery may have been to blame.
Coast Reporter was unable to reach the man who owned the vessel for comment this week. He will be responsible for pulling the burned ship out of the water, stripping it and disposing of it properly.
