TowBoatU.S. Ft Lauderdale Salvages
Vessel Involved In a Dockside Boat Fire
Recently a neighbor spotted smoke from a 51' Symbol Motor Yacht that was moored in its home slip in the canal adjacent to his condo. He called Ft. Lauderdale Fire Rescue to respond to the fire. By the time firefighters had finished battling the blaze, the vessel was filled with a considerable amount of water and firefighting foam; most of the upper structure of the vessel was burnt and melted to a point that made it hard to distinguish the boats original form.
TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale arrived on scene in the midst of the action and began preparing their equipment for the salvage operation. TowBoatU.S. Ft Lauderdale's Director of Operations Kevin Collins explained "In many cases where vessels catch fire at the dock, the vessel is filled with water as it is being extinguished, in some cases so much water is applied that the boat sinks before firefighting crews are able to completely get the fire under control. Our company has a great deal of experience patching and refloating vessels like this; fortunately this particular boat did not sink to the bottom, we were able to quickly plug the exhaust ports and thru hull fittings, deploy pumps and prevent the gunwales from dipping under water." The company immediately dispatched their 38' landing craft to the scene and deployed 125 feet of hard containment boom around the vessel to minimize the environmental impact from fuel and oil leaking from the boat; this vessel is kept stocked with 2,000 feet of boom at all times and is ready to get underway to the scene of a current or potential spill at a moments notice for cases just like this one. TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale's salvage crew accessed the bilge spaces of the wreckage and used several gas and electric dewatering pumps to pump the boat dry, subsequently towing it to a boatyard that evening to be hauled out and stored for further inspection by the owner's insurance provider. Every effort was made by the salvage team to disturb as little as possible during the operation to enable investigators to determine what sparked the fire. A salvage diver was left on board the casualty during the towing portion of the operation to monitor bilge spaces for further flooding to insure the vessel arrived safely at her final destination. To view more pictures of the salvage operation, click here to view the entire gallery.
TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale has successfully completed thousands of salvage operations since the company was founded in 1989. The company takes pride in providing prompt, professional service to it's customers; Please log on to www.towboatusftlauderdale.com to learn more about their salvage history and the scope of their abilities.
