Fire in SCM

[Hurricane]

Fire this morning in SCM
Whilst shaving this morning, I heard a huge explosion.
I thought it might have been a boat hitting us or a battery exploding.
It turned out (we believe) to be a gas explosion on a sailing yacht over in our boatyard - a couple of hundred yards away.
One small injury - we believe a cut to a lady's face.
Our Dockmasters were on site at the time and did a great job moving the stricken vessel from the fuel berth to a safe alongside concrete quay where the emergency services dealt with it.
The Dockmasters tried without success to tackle the fire with a portable pump from the quay.
We watched from our flybridge as 5 ambulances and 3 fire trucks arrived along with loads of police.
They quickly had the area cordoned off but it took two loads of foam to completely extinguish the fire.

We believe that the boat was a visiting yacht - being close to the fuel dock she may have been about to fuel up.
We witnessed several explosions - probably spare gas/fuel tanks.

And the Salvamento rescue boat arrived on scene to help.


But it was only foam that extinguished it in the end



So - a message to all who have gas on board - take care and make sure that your kit is fully inspected/maintained.

EDIT
Very early on, our Dockmasters rigged an oil boom to reduce the amount of pollution to our harbor.

Interestingly, the staff in our marina had a practice safety drill yesterday so they were able to put their procedures into operation sooner than they expected.

 

[KevinV]

Glad everyone is safe

 

[Hurricane]

Glad everyone is safe

Yes, I waited until I knew before posting this.

 

[Greg2]

How awful for the owners but good that there were no serious injuries or even worse.

 

[markc]

terrifying... glad to hear that there were no significant injuries

 

[Alicatt]

Ouch
We have gas onboard, only turned on when we want to actually use the stuff. The gas locker is outside and the drain from it goes overboard. Plus we are looking at doing away with the gas water heater, neither of us trusts it 100%.
A salutary lesson we should all head, gas safety is important.
While a safety certificate is not needed in Belgium, some marinas in the Netherlands require them if you want to moor there.

 

[Dino]

Last year I got a gas engineer to replace the regulator, flexible hoses and valves in the gas locker on my boat. He also fitted a new oven for me and carried out a pressure test to make sure everything was good.
It’s well worth having this check done and replace the flexible hoses.

 

[Hurricane]

This evening, the marina staff have been clearing up.
All ropes back in the Flamingo (our harbor launch).
Mast off

Water drained from the wreck


And lifted unconventionally.


The oil boom is still there but there hasn't been much spillage.

The wreck is now on its side on the waste land beside the boatyard.
Not sure what is next - I wonder how long it will stay there!!

 

[petem]

Not sure what is next - I wonder how long it will stay there!!

Whether it's Spain or the UK, it'll be there forever I suspect! I believe the wrecked Sealine is still lying on the rocks on the IoW.

At least there's a good chance the SCM yacht was insured so there's someone to pay for the disposal cost.

 

[Neil1300r]

Last year I got a gas engineer to replace the regulator, flexible hoses and valves in the gas locker on my boat. He also fitted a new oven for me and carried out a pressure test to make sure everything was good.
It’s well worth having this check done and replace the flexible hoses.

No idea why the UK boat safety certification is only for boats on rivers and canals.as above issues don't just happen inland

 

[Bigplumbs]

No idea why the UK boat safety certification is only for boats on rivers and canals.as above issues don't just happen inland

Have a read of the RYA mantra. Very important about keeping UK boating unregulated

 

[Boathook]

Last year I got a gas engineer to replace the regulator, flexible hoses and valves in the gas locker on my boat. He also fitted a new oven for me and carried out a pressure test to make sure everything was good.
It’s well worth having this check done and replace the flexible hoses.

I've renewed some of my gas system over the winter. Found it the easiest way to sort out a small leak in the gas locker.

Also invested in a portable leak detector Test Products International Leak Detector with Flexineck 725L The clicking noise it makes reminded me of the gas detectors I used when working with British Gas, the original Gas Board.

 

[ylop]

No idea why the UK boat safety certification is only for boats on rivers and canals.as above issues don't just happen inland

But the above happened in a country which does have tougher regs that the U.K., but it still happened so maybe regs don’t work as well as you think? Was there a particular problem on inland waterways? Has it actually impacted those stats more than general boating trends from the same issues at sea?

Certainly if you introduced a new rule today all those questions about abandoned boats would suddenly become much more of a problem as every scruffy old boat suddenly need an expensive inspection and probably remedial work to fix something which has actually been fine for the last 50 yrs! Meanwhile someone with a compliant boat will find new ways to harm themselves!

 

[KevinV]

Being at the fuel dock, isn't a petrol vapour explosion more likely than a gas leak? That doesn't detract from the message to check your gas system - always a good idea - but a reminder that petrol vapour on a boat is horribly dangerous too

 

[markc]

Saw a sailboat go up in flames yesterday afternoon. I spotted the black smoke across the bay and it was shocking how quickly it was totally engulfed. Sailboat at anchor, so wonder how it started. Looks like it was at the stern. Engine? Generator? BBQ gone wrong?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1928832317528633732

 

[Greg2]

Awful! Hope everyone was okay.

 

[Grubble]

But the above happened in a country which does have tougher regs that the U.K., but it still happened so maybe regs don’t work as well as you think?

Spain's safety inspections don't apply to foreign flagged boats and the boat in the image doesn't appear to be Spanish registered, so maybe the regs do work?