FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) — A celebration on the water turned dangerous, Tuesday, when a boat fire sent a family diving into the water to escape the flames.
The family had plans to spend the Fourth of July out on the water, but they didn’t get very far.
Sebastian Arenas’ 28-foot boat quickly went up in flames just minutes after leaving George English Park in Fort Lauderdale.
“I think we had an electrical short,” said Arenas. “and when we were exiting the dock, I smelled some fumes and some smoke.”
That’s when the family bailed into the water.
“I just got my family off, and I started to get anything that might be dangerous out of the boat,” said Arenas.
Crews quickly arrived to put out the blaze.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue tweeted a picture of the boat on fire.
#FLFR boat fire at George English Park @FTLCityNews @wsvn @JackSeiler @leefeldman @CommissionerBR @CommissionerBR @WPLGLocal10 @SunSentinel pic.twitter.com/fxXms8ZIiu
— FLFR PIO (@FLFR411) July 4, 2017
No one was hurt.
Arenas said he realizes that his boat is not salvageable. “Yeah, it’s not the way you want to end it,” he said.
Meanwhile, nearly 40 miles south in Biscayne Bay, firefighters evacuated two female boaters when carbon monoxide from their boat’s engine somehow made it into the cabin, making the women dizzy and weak.
One of the women was transported to Mercy Hospital, and the other was treated at the scene.
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