FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue crews responded to reports of a boat on fire in the water.
The 88-foot yacht, ironically named Hot Pursuit, was fully engulfed in flames on the water behind 710 Coral Way, near Las Olas Boulevard, Wednesday morning.
Dispatchers received multiple calls reporting the blaze that, officials said, ignited due to an electrical problem.
Benjamin Fisher and Vincent Ventura were working on a neighboring boat when they witnessed the fire and immediately grabbed garden hoses in an attempt to put out the flames.
“We saw smoke mostly,” said Ventura. “It looked like it just caught on fire. When we called the fire department, we ran over and by the time we got over there, it grew. We did our best to put it out.”
Fisher said they tried to get the fire out before fire rescue made it to the scene.
“As they came down the street, they saw a large cloud of smoke, and once they made an investigation in the back, they found an approximately 80-foot luxury vessel with fire on the top deck,” said Chief Garret Pingol with FLFR. “[The fire created] heavy smoke and crews put hose lines into action. The crews made quick access to the back before, what we call a deck stretch or a dock stretch, which pulls lines quickly down off of the first arriving fire apparatus and made a quick knockdown from the outside and then boarded the vessel.”
Fire crews extinguished the blaze in less than an hour.
One person was treated on the scene for smoke inhalation, and did not need to be transported to the hospital for further care. That person is now OK.
“Due to the quick action of the crew, they isolated the majority of the fire to the flight deck, the top deck of the vessel, reserving all below deck areas of the vessel,” said Pingol.
Since fire rescue crews managed to maintain the flames to the top of the yacht, it was not a total loss.
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