Printable VersionA boat fire at Lake Havasu State Park about 11 a.m. Wednesday destroyed a 13-year-old boat, injured one person and damaged a section of the park’s newly installed south boat ramp dock system.
 Jayne Hanson/News-Herald Photo A 38-foot Formula Boat, owned by Havasu resident James Tucker, is pictured late Wednesday morning engulfed in flames alongside the recently installed docking system at Lake Havasu State Park’s south boat launch ramp. |
Fire department officials also added that Tucker suffered minor flash burns from the ordeal.
“I talked to the wife … she said (Tucker) was standing on the (boat) hatch when the hatch blew. It threw him off the boat and he landed on his back on the dock,” according to Hutchens, of Havasu, who was on scene.
“They lost everything … her purse, his wallet, their cell phone — everything was on the boat,” said Julie Hutchens, also of Havasu. The Hutchens were not eyewitnesses to the explosion but spoke with the boat owner’s wife before she left the scene to accompany Tucker to the hospital.
“The boat’s value was estimated at about $100,000 and it was considered a total loss,” said MCSO spokeswoman Trish Carter.
The new docking system installed about a week ago at the local state park’s south boat launch ramp was visibly damaged during the boat fire.
“The good news is the person who put in the docks is on site to give us an estimate. (The docks) are still so new that we should be able to get it repaired fairly quickly. I just hope it didn’t affect the structure and integrity of the (main) deck,” said State Park Manager Tim Kristof.
The park manager said at first glance it appeared only the western most deck-finger would need to be replaced and not the main deck.
Fred Adler, president of Havasu-based London Bridge Marine Contractors, was at the state park working to install the new dock systems at the park’s north ramp when the fire started.
“It is not something we expected,” Adler said. The local marine contractor said his company installed the former south ramp docks 20 years ago — prior to them being recently replaced. There were never any incidents with the old docks in the 20 years they were in place, he said.
“Hopefully, (the dock) didn’t suffer a lot of damage. It was under fire for a long time,” Adler said.
Later Wednesday, Adler said he would have a diver inspect the docking system from beneath to better assess the damage, but his initial recommendation to the state would be preliminary repairs so the docks would at least be able to remain open.
“The time that the aluminum was exposed to heat concerns me … it may be prudent to replace that section. It is the end that is fully exposed to wind and storms … it is unfortunate, and not inexpensive to fabricate, ship and re-install that section,” Adler said.
Lake Havasu City Fire Department responded with Engine 2, Truck 1, the department’s Fire Boat, and a Battalion Chief. It took firefighters 30 minutes to put out the fire and they were on scene about two hours.
“The fire department did a great job attacking this thing by land and by sea … (the Fire Boat crew) used the hose stream to push (the burning boat) onto the ramp so it didn’t sink in the water causing less lake pollution,” Adler said.
Coincidentally, the fire department’s Fire Boat was already on the water for an annual pump test and was therefore able to respond in a matter of minutes, according to Battalion Chief James Whitt. The fire boat is normally launched from its home base at Contact Point.
“We probably gained 10 minutes,” Whitt said of the department’s fire boat response time. The Fire Boat was on the south side of the Island when the call came in and made it to the scene by way of Bridgewater Channel, he said.
The amount of fuel and the size of the boat were the main challenges firefighters faced, according to Whitt.
“We were told (Tucker) had just fueled it with 200 gallons,” he said.
MCSO deputies arrived to help with crowd control as well as to begin initial investigations.
Fire officials said initial investigations show no foul play and the fire was more than likely an accident.
Both MCSO and Havasu fire officials reported investigations surrounding the incident are pending.
You may contact the reporter at jhanson@havasunews.com.
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