Major Boat Fire

According to the article some people thought it could have been a space heater which started the fire. It spread to a second boat. No injuries.

Fire destroys two boats on Weehawken waterfront

by The Associated Press Tuesday December 09, 2008, 10:16 AM

A fire in a Weehawken marina along the Hudson River sent boat owners scrambling for safety early today and spread a cloud of black smoke over traffic entering the Lincoln Tunnel during the morning commute.

At least two boats burned at the Lincoln Harbor Marina, though Weehawken deputy police chief Jeffrey Fulcher said no one was injured.

Authorities initially were worried about a New York City doctor who lives on one of the boats, but Fulcher said the doctor was at work when the fire started.

Rocco Brognano, owner of a boat docked at the marina, was on his boat on an adjacent row when the fire began.
"I actually saw it on the news and I was in the boat," Brognano said. "I didn't waste any time getting out at that point."
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He said black smoke filled the area as marina employees went from vessel to vessel trying to wake residents and get them out.
"It was fiberglass burning," Brognano said. "I jumped off the boat and there was all that black smoke."
Two fireboats and about 50 firefighters from the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue department fought the blaze from land and water.

The harbor master noticed the fire around 7:15 a.m. on one boat. It quickly spread to a second boat.
The smoke was visible to people in offices along Manhattan's West Side. Rubbernecking motorists slowed traffic into the nearby Lincoln Tunnel.

Brandon Beach, 32, was awakened by the smoke as he slept on his vessel in the marina. He and several other boat owners suspect the fire could have been started by a type of space heater used by boat owners that uses salt water, which can freeze in pipes during the winter.

Beach also said one of the boats that caught on fire had been winterized on Monday by marina workers, who wrapped it in plastic shrink wrap and then used a torch to tighten the plastic around the vessel.

Despite the scare, Beach said he plans to sleep on his boat tonight.
"You can only worry so much and hope it doesn't happen to you," he said.