Update 7/18
The cause of a fire that ravaged two sailing yachts, Stinger and Sundowner, remains under investigation, though not by state fire investigators.
One of them, the Sundowner, reignited Wednesday, a week after the original fire, as it waited to be examined by fire officials and insurance inspectors at the R.M. Packer Terminal in Vineyard Haven. John Packer told The Times that he believes the yacht’s battery triggered reignition. Terminal crews put out the flames with extinguishers though the yacht continued to smolder until its innards were gouged out with an excavator, Mr. Packer said. Thereafter the two yachts were crushed, stuffed in containers, and shipped off to New Bedford.
On July 5, a joint response by Oak Bluffs and Tisbury snuffed out the high-heat fiberglass blazes consuming the vessels. The Stinger eventually sank, and the Sundowner partially submerged. Sea Tow planned to haul the Sundowner to the Martha’s Vineyard Boatyard on July 6, but according to the company’s owner, Ramsey Chason, as soon as he and colleagues from Tow Boat US got a better look at the condition of the hull, that plan was scrapped.
The Sundowner looked likely to break apart on the Hale’s Marine Travelift, he said. The yacht was instead hauled ashore with a crane and excavator at the R.M. Packer Co. terminal, after being towed in a nest of underwater lift bags. The Stinger required more work, Mr. Chason said. Mr. Chason dove to the wreck of the Stinger with Sea Tow staffer Jason Kulas and Mark Brown of Tow Boat US. The three divers slung the aft of the yacht with ladder strapping and buoyed it off the Lagoon bed to break the suction.
They then cradled the keel of the Stinger with strapping and attached a ring of inflated lift bags and brought it to the surface. From the Lagoon, the Stinger was towed by a Tow Boat US vessel and guided by a Sea Tow vessel over to Packer’s terminal, where it was eventually hauled ashore like the Sundowner.
Responses quicker than public perception
After motoring toward “an amazing amount of black smoke” in the Tashmoo skiff, Tisbury harbormaster John Crocker arrived on scene first, and found both boats blazing. He called the Dukes County Communications Center, and reported two yachts fully engulfed, with nobody aboard. He then opened a channel to Tisbury Fire Chief John Schilling. Chief Schilling asked him to keep curious boaters at bay until fire personnel could arrive. Mr. Crocker said he did so as cordially as he could. He noted there were several gawking boaters.
The Oak Bluffs fireboat made it to the Lagoon in less than 15 minutes, said Oak Bluffs Det. Jeffrey Labell. Det. Labell piloted the boat that day. He said dispatch received the call at 1:03 pm. By 1:13 a five-person crew fought traffic, assembled aboard, and were rounding East Chop Light. In approximately 15 minutes they had passed under the Lagoon Pond drawbridge and had engaged the flames, he said.
Capt. James Moreis operated the pump, Lieut. Tad Medeiros, Capt. Kyle Gatchell, and firefighter Kevin Brennan worked the hoses. Chief John Rose was later shuttled over to the vessel. Throughout the battle, Det. Labell said, he steered the boat out of the wind and therefore out of the torrents of toxic smoke the fires issued.
Chief Schilling said his fireboat crew rushed to the Tisbury Emergency Center, hitched the fireboat trailer to fire and rescue truck 661 and split lanes as best they could in the “gridlock traffic” of the day after the Fourth of July. The crew passed the Beach Road Shell en route to the Lagoon Pond ramp at 1:11 pm.
“The 911 center was overwhelmed by this call,” Chief Schilling said. Several different locations were assigned to the fire by callers, he said. He credits the communications center with shrewd thinking for dispatching both departments simultaneously and making sure the Lagoon was covered no matter which municipality the fire took place in. Lieutenant Jason Robinson piloted the Tisbury fireboat out to the scene with Capt. Glen Pinkham and firefighter Michael Wilson working the hoses.
The fire was particularly hot and noxious, Chief Rose said, because the yachts were made of fiberglass. He noted fiberglass contains petroleum products, and often behaves like gasoline when it burns. The fireboats knocked down the flames with water cannons, but eventually the Oak Bluffs boat needed to switch to foam to snuff out the yachts, as the fire was too hot, he said. Cannoned water steamed off the yachts. Properties inherent to the foam prevented it from steaming off, so it was essential, the chief said.
A U.S Coast Guard MH60T Jayhawk helicopter was diverted from previous activity to look for people aboard the yachts, Petty Officer Nicole Groll told The Times. The helicopter made only one loop over the burning vessels before it left the scene. The Oak Bluffs harbormaster boat and a Barnstable County Sheriff’s boat also responded to the blazes.
Chief Rose said his department’s response time was just shy of 15 minutes.
“That is an incredible response,” he said. Some folks always see emergency response as sluggish because in the midst of an emergency “a minute seems like 10 minutes,” he said.
“It always seems like an eternity, but in reality it isn’t,” Chief Schilling said.
Chief Rose commended Chief Schilling, and said his department and Tisbury functioned flawlessly together.
Chief Schilling described the string of boat fires as “extraordinary” in a telephone call with The Times. Longtime mariner Ralph Packer, owner of the R.M. Packer Co. terminal where the burned remains of the Stinger and Sundowner rested, said such boat fires “have never happened before,” but he suggested they were “coincidence” and stemmed from a “very busy summer, boating-wise.”
Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state fire marshal’s office, said her office is investigating a boat fire that occurred in Falmouth recently, but that they have not been asked to look into any of the boat fires on the Vineyard.
At Tuesday’s board of selectmen’s meeting in Tisbury, Chief Schilling praised the response to the boat fire in Lagoon Pond, noting the difficulty maneuvering to the scene with a fire engine pulling a fireboat.
“It was a strange coincidence to have this many fires in a short period of time,” he said. “I’m proud of the job that we did. It was good working closely with Oak Bluffs.”
“Our two towns really do come together, and I think that’s a positive thing,” selectman Tristan Israel said.
Selectman Melinda Loberg encouraged the town’s emergency departments to reflect on the response and the coordination. “We should strengthen that cooperation during these incidents so everyone knows the role they are playing,” she said.
Chief Schilling pointed out there were no injuries and no environmental spill calling that a successful outcome.
Mr. Crocker said his department played an active role in making sure nothing fouled the lagoon during the salvage efforts. “We had to play an active role to make sure the vehicles were boomed appropriately,” he told selectmen. “We also required absorbent material there in case there was any leakage.”
Editor’s note: Updated to clarify the name of the burned yacht that reignited at the RM Packer Co. terminal. The Sundowner reignited at the terminal on July 12.
