Local fire officials are urging boaters to prioritize maintenance and safety checks following a recent increase in boat fires on Dale Hollow Lake.
Byrdstown/Pickett County Fire Chief Garry Garrett said boat fires are particularly dangerous because they can accelerate quickly and can spread to other vessels.
“Usually they explode at some point in time and if you’re still on the boat, it’s kind of hard for you to get away from it because you’re in the water,” Garrett said. “I mean you’re out in the middle of the lake and if you can’t swim good and you’ve not got a life jacket on… and a boat catches on fire, a lot of stuff can happen.”
East 52 Fire Department Chief James King said his department responded to a fire at Mitchell Creek last weekend where the boat had already burnt to the waterline and sunk.
As a former boat mechanic, King said proper boat maintenance is vital for fire safety, as well routine safety checks to make sure boats are equipped with fire extinguishers that are in working order.
“A lot of people come to the lake for vacation, you know, their boats may be sitting for six months before they even touch them,” King said. “Then they go put them in the water and fire them up and try to take off, and something happens, you know, fuel line’s busted or something’s leaking.”
King said the East 52 Fire Department maintains two specialized fire boats at Horse Creek Marina that are capable of pumping 325 gallons of water per minute. King said these vessels are equipped with GPS and sonar technology to assist with firefighting and search operations at any time of day.
“I can tell it to go to Sunset Marina from the dam and it’ll take me there just like a car would,” King said. “So that capability’s especially helpful in running at night time. But we can fight a fire just like a firetruck would, just from a boat.”
Garrett said land-based fire departments face significant challenges when responding to emergencies on the water because fire trucks cannot reach the vessels. Garrett said his department often has to monitor fires from the bank or attempt to borrow local boats to push burning vessels away from docks and other property.
“We have no way of pumping water once you get us off the shore if it’s without our hoses, I mean, you know, we can’t run our hoses across the lake,” Garrett said.
King said boaters must use vent fans to exhaust fumes from the bilge, the area under the cover where the motor sits. King said fuel vapors can build up in this space and ignite from a spark when the starter button is pressed.
King said boat fire emergencies, as well as any life-threatening situation on the water is always a matter of logistics as first responders try to locate the scene and arrive as quickly as possible.
“It’s not like land,” King said. “You know, if you’re on land you can get out and get away from it, but in the water you’re kind of stuck there.”