Marine authorities informed about an 80-foot yacht that burst into flames on Wednesday night at the marina in South Florida. The fire spread to a nearby vessel.
On Thursday, teams left the place of the fire incident but still there is an ongoing investigation what caused the fire. The unrecognizable now yacht, originally valued at $3,5 million, faced severe damage.
The fire started at Bahia Mar and was reported by security, who asked for help at about 10:45 local time.
According to information given by Timothy Heiser, the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief, when the teams reached the incident location, the yacht was all in flames and the fire was passing over the nearby 125-foot docked vessel.
Firefighters from the local Fire Rescue unit had to take another route in order to get faster to the burning vessels. Fireboats helped to defuse the fire, said Chief Heiser. He explained that they give access to areas with fire incidents, when it is not possible to pass through by land. The fire extinguishing from the sea-side was crucial, he added, because it prevented the involvement of many more boats from the marina into the fire.
The aggressive blaze was extinguished by 26 firefighters from the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, trapping two people inside the 125-foot ship. After 10-15 min fighting with the fire flames, both men were evacuated by members of the nautical units. One firefighter was treated on the fire location for smoke inhalation. There is no report for any other injuries.