Mattapoisett boatyard fire
- Thread starter Brian D
- Start date
Wishing a fast recovery for those who were injured in this fire. If you have ever seen a fiberglass boat burn, it is something not easily forgotten. I don't think I have ever seen a more intense fire in my life.
Wow, looking at the buildings on Google Maps, it looks like the fire took out at least 4 buildings on the property. It looks like it pretty much engulfed all of their land facilities.
It makes you wonder about spacing. The fire code and IBC have spacing requirements for flammable and combustible liquid tanks, for example. Some are for firefighter safety and some are to limit spread. Some yards leave 6-8 feet between boats, some have them practically practically touching, harly a foot apart, and this appears to be the latter. With tight spacing, once a fire starts, it spreads fast and there is no room for fire fighters to work to halt the spread.
The other result is that if one boat falls off it's stands there is a domino progression.
The other result is that if one boat falls off it's stands there is a domino progression.
I got an email from Dave this morning. I had a mooring there for 7 years, great bunch of people in a pristine neighborhood. A great sailing community! I doubt, based on age of the facilities, there were sprinklers but I don't know for sure. Thoughts and prayers for Phil please. No mention on how it started. Very sad.
| Yes, that is the headline. And yes, everything is gone. It is a sureal experience, one that we could have only imagined in our wildest thoughts. Our number one concern is for our long time employee, Phil Macomber. He was badly injured as a result of the initial explosion. He has major burns to his face and neck and a shattered femur. He is at RI Hospital in their burn unit, intubated and sedated. He is expected to recover from these injuries but clearly has a long road ahead. Please keep Phil in your thoughts and prayers. There is a Go Fund Me page set up for Phil: Phil’s Recovery Fund, organized by Sarah Kaiser Knowing that everyone is safe, we now must tackle this new reality. In all, 20 boats were lost. They are simply gone with only traces of evidence left behind. Nearly 40 vehicles were either totally burned out or significantly damaged. The cleanup has already begun. To be sure there is no misunderstanding, we plan to come back from this better and stronger! I heard myself saying that day "It's not a question of if we will rebuild, it's a question of how tall and how wide!" The Boatyard will be here for you! As you can imagine, the idea of starting over from the ground up is becoming more daunting with each passing day. Our employees are our first priority. All of their personal tools and other belongings are lost. There are no more shop tools or equipment. Our entire inventory is gone. Any paperwork, physical records, archives are also gone. We will be setting up a temporary shop and office at our rt. 6 location. Our waterfront, docks and launches were completely unaffected and those operations are running now. We expect the yard to be cleaned up so that parking will be available by the weekend. We have no power or water but will be setting up a generator to be able to resume fueling. If we stay on it, perhaps a sense of normalcy will return soon. The business side will resume in a few days. All of our bookkeeping and documents are backed up off site daily. Unfortunately our hauling and launching schedules were always handled the old fashioned way, on a paper calendar. Our mooring service records were also tracked on paper. To reconstruct these records will not be easy. We would ask any of you who have not received a launching bill, mooring or other service invoice to let us know. Something of the Honor System. Your help in this will be very much appreciated! Finally, the outreach and support from customers, friends, our town and the broader community has been nothing short of overwhelming. We have been in touch with the lieutenant Governor and Bill Straus who are arranging a coordinated effort to oversee the various government agencies involved in the cleanup and rebuilding. There are a number of fundraising efforts underway. We cannot express our most heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who has stepped up to help. We especially want to thank Andy Murray and the Mattapoisett fire department and EMS for the rapid response to our emergency. Knowing that it would have been impossible to save any of our structures, they, along with 15 other towns, were able to contain the fire and prevent further spread to neighboring houses. That was a miracle! Jason King and the Mattapoisett police kept order and calm throughout it all. The coordinated efforts between departments and all who responded was Hurculean. As much as we would never wish this tragedy on anyone, the way that so many have rallied around us has been incredible. We have always loved our town and our wonderful community. We never realized the profound effect this horrible event would have on so many others. It's impossible not be feel emotional and deeply moved by other's efforts to help out. We will get through this, that we are sure of. MBY Strong! |