An early morning fire at the San Diego Marriott marina harbor destroyed five luxury power boats and damaged two others Monday, February 27. No one was reported injured.
The fire was caused by circuit breaker sparks, which ignited one of the boats. A husband and wife were awakened by their fire alarm and smoke, which they traced to the circuit breaker. After the ignition, the two had to escape, as did three other people in boats nearby, said San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Spokesman Maurice Luque.
The Fire Department received a call at approximately 2:35 a.m. Fifty firefighters were needed to extinguish the blaze. The damage was estimated to be around $5 million.
According to Luque, the burning boats, ranging from 30 to 45 feet in length and composed primarily of fiberglass, were difficult to extinguish.
“It’s a very difficult fire to fight because of the volatile nature of fiberglass,” Luque said. “When it’s on fire, it burns hot, it burns fast.” Luque added that a lot of the vessels have numerous compartments in their cabins, providing no easy access when boats are on fire. Gasoline and other combustibles continued to ignite. The fire took about an hour to extinguish.
Crews worked all day Monday cleaning up the mess. While the foam used to fight the fire is said to be environmentally safe, other contents of boats aren’t. Oils, greases, lubricants and fuels were all floating around the Embarcadero area.
The fire made for a day-long cleanup by the San Diego Haz-Mat team, along with the California Department of Fish and Game and a number of other agencies, who set up buoys to contain the residual debris and aftermath.