New Rules of Fire Fighting on Boats: “It Was Like a Fire-Breathing Dragon.”

For National Safe Boating Week (May 17-23) we’re revisiting some of the best safety stories, recommendations, and gear from our sister publications. Today, from Power & Motoryacht magazine, a potentially life-saving excerpt about preventing, preparing for, and responding to fires on boats.

By Mike Smith

It was a matter of 15 seconds from the time we smelled the smoke to the time the flames were just billowing,” said Arthur “Kitt” Watson in an interview with NBC Boston after his 70-foot Marlow motoryacht, Elusive, burned on the Piscataqua River near New Castle, New Hampshire, on June 18, 2022. “It was the most frightening, harrowing experience we ever had.” Watson, his wife and the boat’s mate had to swim for their lives, along with the couple’s two dogs. The fire blocked access to the life vests, so the trio used pool noodles as substitute PFDs. All five abandoned ship via the stern platform and were rescued within 10 minutes by other boats, with no serious injuries. The boat, however, engulfed in flames and resisting firefighting efforts by the USCG and local authorities, drifted for two hours until sinking offshore of Kittery, Maine.

Later, Watson told a reporter from the Portsmouth, NH, Herald, “This didn’t come from the engine area, but it came out of our cabins. We could see a fireball coming up the companionway. It was like a fire-breathing dragon. Fiberglass burns so fast.”

Still think you don’t need automatic fire-suppression aboard your boat? A fire-suppression system will stand by 24/7 to detect and attack a fire early, before it has time to become an inferno; it’s alert even when you’re not, or if no one is aboard. The system’s sensors react to increased temperature—most are set to discharge at 175 degrees—and flood the protected space with gaseous fire-extinguishing agent in just a few seconds. An alarm at the helm warns that something’s amiss belowdecks while there’s still time to act; by the time the Watsons knew they had a fire, it was too late to do anything but abandon ship. (Every cabin should have a smoke and carbon monoxide detector as well, as they are excellent and inexpensive early-warning devices. Buy them with 10-year batteries, and replace the whole works when the battery goes dead.)

To read the rest of the story on the PMY website, click here.