Marina fire washington NC

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Chris Burti

Chris Burti

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Dec 2, 2003
480
Catalina C-320 Washington, NC
There was a major fire at McCotters Marina last night on the dock across the fairway from us. It appears likely that we escaped damage, but they won't let us on our dock to get aboard to inspect the boat to be certain.

No serious injuries to liveaboards, relatively minor injuries to three, about 25 boats lost, affected docks gone and significant environmental impact.

I also just got a call from Boat U.S. checking to see if we needed any assistance...talk about awesome customer service.


http://www.witn.com/index.html
 
Tim R.

Tim R.

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May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
Being a liveaboard, that is very scary to watch. Luckily our marina is well used by the winter fishing fleet and is bordered by condos and resturants so if a fire did start it should get noticed fairly quickly. Our fireboat is only 2 piers away.
 
Chris Burti

Chris Burti

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Dec 2, 2003
480
Catalina C-320 Washington, NC
McCotters is a year around marina and liveaboards made a quick call. Unfortunately, it is at the end of River Road with limited fire protection and no nearby fire boat that I am aware of. No criticism of emergency response personnel intended...they have done a super job at great risk.
 
Chris Burti

Chris Burti

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Dec 2, 2003
480
Catalina C-320 Washington, NC
Thanks Stu,
My visual inspection from the road near the shore and a survey of news photos is very promising...best thing was that there were few injuries and they were apparently not life threatening.
 
Ed Schenck

Ed Schenck

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Jun 2, 2004
5,802
Hunter 37-cutter, '79 41 23' 30"N 82 33' 20"W--------Huron, OH
Looks like you will be OK if you were across the fairway. Hope so. Probably no way to find the cause. But that would be something that I would want to know.

Did you ever know Wayne Estabrooks? He has/had an H340 and was like the Chamber of Commerce for Washington, NC. I never did get up(from Oriental or Beaufort) there to see him.
 
Chris Burti

Chris Burti

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Dec 2, 2003
480
Catalina C-320 Washington, NC
The name is familiar...Commitment is in Washington (sort of), I actually live about 45 minutes away in Farmville. It seemed to confuse people in the early days of lists, so I adopted the port nearest the boat for my signature
 
foustjl

foustjl

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Apr 3, 2009
15
Hunter 37c Washington, NC
I keep a boat at McCotters

I heard about the the fire on Facebook. McCotters has three docks, North, Middle and South. It was North dock that had the fire. My 20' Hunter on Middle dock was fine. I drove out there this afternoon, but the police still had the place sealed. Lot of environment clean up folks there with foam and oil booms. Its a friendly marina, a lot of good folks there always willing to help you out.
 
gpd955

gpd955

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Feb 22, 2006
1,164
Catalina 310 Cape May, NJ
Glad to hear you guys are ok. Hope you can get to the boats soon to inspect. If you need anything be sure to reach out.
 
N

NC-C320

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Mar 28, 2010
91
Catalina C320 Washington, NC
Ed Schenck said:
Looks like you will be OK if you were across the fairway. Hope so. Probably no way to find the cause. But that would be something that I would want to know.

Did you ever know Wayne Estabrooks? He has/had an H340 and was like the Chamber of Commerce for Washington, NC. I never did get up(from Oriental or Beaufort) there to see him.
Click to expand
Wayne Estabrooks has his boat in the Pamlico Plantation Marina across the creek, as do I. We were well away from the fire and have no damage (I didn't actually look for his boat today, but it is normally in our marina).
 
Chris Burti

Chris Burti

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Dec 2, 2003
480
Catalina C-320 Washington, NC
foustjl said:
I heard about the the fire on Facebook. McCotters has three docks, North, Middle and South. It was North dock that had the fire. My 20' Hunter on Middle dock was fine. I drove out there this afternoon, but the police still had the place sealed. Lot of environment clean up folks there with foam and oil booms. Its a friendly marina, a lot of good folks there always willing to help you out.
Click to expand

You are right...good people there...actually there are four docks...we are on the "Gas Dock" on the North of the "North Dock".

Latest reports (unverified at this time) have a witness saying the fire started in the shorepower inlet on a power boat next to a friend's houseboat. He escaped in bare feet and long johns having foolishly tried to fight the fire with a disconnected garden hose.
 
Witzend

Witzend

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Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
"Gas Dock"...Hmmm make me wonder why you would want to camp out there?
 
Chris Burti

Chris Burti

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Dec 2, 2003
480
Catalina C-320 Washington, NC
Witzend said:
"Gas Dock"...Hmmm make me wonder why you would want to camp out there?
Click to expand
Just an ancient name.

It is the dock next to where the marine lift is and, long ago, at the shore, where the fuel pumps were located, though they are long gone now. It is also the dock closest to the offices and furnishes some of the wider slips. These slips were also shielded from the prevailing winds by the shed docks that burned.
 
S

Steve Kamp

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May 7, 2004
252
Hunter 38 Little River, SC
Commitment and Island Time, We are glad you guys are apparently OK. How about Walt Grimes and Wookie Bear? Makes me kinda sad, and kinda glad we left and went to New Bern. We were on the "Gas dock" too, about four slips closer in than you back in 2005-2006

Steve and Sheila Kamp
"Carolina"
 
catsailor

catsailor

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Jan 10, 2009
590
PDQ 32 Deale, MD
Chris Burti said:
You are right...good people there...actually there are four docks...we are on the "Gas Dock" on the North of the "North Dock".

Latest reports (unverified at this time) have a witness saying the fire started in the shorepower inlet on a power boat next to a friend's houseboat. He escaped in bare feet and long johns having foolishly tried to fight the fire with a disconnected garden hose.
Click to expand
I gotta comment.

He tried to put out and electrical fire with a water hose...
which was disconnected because of freezing for the winter...
when he had 2 ABC fire extinguishers on board.

Sounds thick. Also sounds like it should have spread slowly, so there must be more to it. There usually is.
 
Chris Burti

Chris Burti

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Dec 2, 2003
480
Catalina C-320 Washington, NC
Steve Kamp said:
Chris, have you been able to talk with Mark or Arlen yet?
Click to expand
Steve,
Arlen is no longer there. I saw and talked with Mark yesterday, he is OK and dealing with the situation admirably.

Walt and Wookie Bear are fine. The Bunyan Creek VFD was there almost immediately, but the shed was fully involved, so they put water on the boats they could save.

Pandora's lines burned, he sailed into the fairway, then sailed out into the creek where her anchor released and she then sank. These old wooden boats have souls. If she hadn't turned down the fairway, she probably would have set the gas dock ablaze.

Dallas and Mary lost Mercedes III, which was a completely restored 1960 Grebe. http://classicpamlicocruises.com/images/interior/interior.htm

Jody Reynolds and Mike Wright lost their 86 year old motor yacht, Hermione. "Ironically, we cruised her 800 miles from near the Canadian border in NY State to keep her safe for the winter. We woke up to police at 6:30 this morning here in the snow country checking to make sure we weren't aboard. Our hearts are broken. She had already survived one marina fire in Virginia, and was the last yacht of her design afloat. www.myhermione.com We're just glad no one was killed. thanks,"

Many other losses that were tragic for their owners.


Commitment was completely unscathed, we were really fortunate.
 
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