Randy and I were having dinner when my mother called from her home on Bainbridge Island to tell us she was watching a segment on the local news about an SYC dock fire. We'll go over after dinner to see what's happening I said. "Maybe you should hurry" she said helpfully "The roof just collapsed". We got there about 7:40 PM when the fire had been going for an hour and the middle of Dock 3 where AJ lives was fully involved--I mean FULLY involved. The fire dept response was land based and they could only work the fire from shoreside so the fire was working its way out the dock. Then the dock burned away and the fire was on its own out on the dock. SPD patrol boats tried to pump water but that was pipsqueak--their water streams just disappeared into the flames. The fire fighting effort was going nowhere and it looked as though the entire outer 2/3rds of the dock was going to burn. I was able to get out on Dock 2 opposite AJ and could just make out AJ's bow in the smoke. The next boat inshore of me was already igniting and the fire was moving outward.
At 8:50 PM the central waterfront fireboat Chief Sealth arrived having come around from downtown through the locks, Salmon Bay, the Ship Canal, Lake Union and reached Portage Bay in just under one hour. There must have been some major wake damage along the way because it is a big boat. The Sealth positioned between Dock 2 & Dock 3 where it towered over both docks and was probably no more than 20' from the flames but kept up a freshwater screen to protect itself and then just unleashed a huge volume of fire surpressing foam. It was designed to fight commercial dock and ship fires so it had plenty of capability to handle this dock fire and it was impressive to watch. The fire was under control by 9:00 PM although it continued to flare up for the rest of the night.
Next day I could walk out on Dock 2 opposite Amberjack with binoculars to confirm it was still afloat but not much else. It was like being at Checkpoint Charlie looking into East Berlin. Finally after a week they rigged a temporary walkway for boat owners to access their boats and remove them from the dock. It was very emotional to walk along the walkway and look down into the water to see burned out boats sitting on the bottom along both sides of the dock. 14 boats sank that night including several meticulously maintained classics and one poorly maintained classic which started the fire. Amberjack was fine even though one local boating publication announced we had sunk thereby sowing panic among local fuel dock operators. We shook the embers off the cockpit cover, fired up and drove away. The boat next inshore that shared our bay was afloat but damaged and would be totaled. The next seven boats along the dock on our side were sunk.
Those with sharp eyes can just make out a Bertram 31 bow sticking out of the flames on the far left side of this picture.
With so many boats sunk there was a lot of oil pollution. The state funded the cleanup by allocating cost against how much fuel each boat held. It was a huge expense and not everyone's insurance covered it. Be forewarned and read your insurance policy! Even if someone else's boat burns and caused your boat to sink you will likely still be charged.
This was our second dock fire, the first being 35 years earlier when we were living aboard our 50' bridge deck cruiser and the old classic next to us burned. That dock had a sprinkler system which held the fire enough enough until the fire department arrived. We only had blistered paint that time. Both fires were caused by makeshift heating systems overloading during a cold snap--they just kept running until they overheated and touched off a nearby bulkhead. Also, overhead sprinklers work. Marine West, the first dock had them, SYC did not and paid for it. And, surprisingly, Seattle firefighters do not wear PFD's to dock fires. One fireman fell in but was fished out immediately. He would not have been able to swim in all that gear.
