TF Members escape Manatee Fire

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healhustler

healhustler

Guru
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
5,198
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Bucky
Vessel Make
Krogen Manatee 36 North Sea
Friday morning, 12-20-19, TF Members Craig & Pat (Silent Faith) barely escaped tragedy when fire broke out aboard their KK Manatee in Marathon, FL, totally gutting the vessel.

Thankfully, they were able to get off the boat soon enough to avoid the severe smoke & flames shown in the pics below. A big loss, for sure, but so thankful to still have a healthy Pat & Craig here to share this and, hopefully, many future boating experiences here on TF.
 

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More shots of Silent Faith. Sorry, can only load one at a time.
 

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Last one: Totally gutted.
 

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Egad.

I hope their path forward is as smooth as possible!
 
Ouch! Glad to hear all are ok after that.

Judging by how much of the fiberglass structure still appears fairly intact, I'd call that an amazingly fast response by the fire department.
 
At least they are ok. Too bad about the boat.
 
Boats can be replaced, loved ones....not so easy.

Best wish’s on moving forward for this lucky couple.
 
Glad they're safe!
Scary stuff.
Any idea on the cause?

Ted
 
O C Diver said:
Glad they're safe!
Scary stuff.
Any idea on the cause?

Ted
Click to expand...

Hopefully, Craig (the owner) will eventually comment. All of us could benefit from his learning.
 
Sad to see. Best wishes to you Craig! ASD crew are very happy you made it out and I would agree with Crusty.....
 
A loss but it could have been much worse. So happy to hear you are ok Craig and Pat. Hopefully you recover quickly dealing with insurance etc. Cheers!
 
Just got this from Craig:

Larry hi,
Just returned home to Stuart from Marathon. We are heartbroken, lost everything as we just woke up and in pajamas there was no power from the pedestal the evening before as we arrived,,,,keep tripping breaker so was late and decided to contact the dock master
in the AM. Left the two 30 amp plugged in. Got up at 7am turned on inverter to fix coffee. A soon as the Kureg was turned on Pat saw some smoke near the pantry as i started looking more smoke, looked in the stateroom and saw smoke billowing up between the teak
and fiberglass along the walls. Holy Crap, so fast, didn't know where to shoot the extinguisher, instantly got worse, told Pat to get out,
she grabbed her purse and our medications.
Mainship next to us called 911 and he untied in record speed and backed out thankfully. I tried to untie and push her out to the bay as wind was blowing that way but one line was still attached aft and could not get to it by this time flames out the widows and doors. Cops arrived and made us move away, fire rescue arrived (4 trucks) boat now drifted into the empty mainship slip and damaged a sailboat with fire, he got out after yelling and banging for him to wake up. hour later still fighting fire and we were moved to the office for interview by fwc, coasties, cops.

SeaTow beached her on a sand bar to pump out and towed to the boatyard attached to this marina and hauled. Next morning a surveyor came and in his mind he said the fire started in the small flat screen sony tv on top shelf in stateroom. I said no way as we have not turned this tv on in two years, he said it was it plugged in? yes, he said dosen't matter that that was the source. Mike Grady (cool beans) does not believe it either
but an engineer was coming tomorrow to investigate. Meanwhile the surveyor went to the pedestal and tested it and it was still tripping, he went to the office to demand them not to plug any more boats in that pedistol and really pissed off the marina manager because of boats begging to get a slip since hurricane Dorian wiped out Marsh Harbor. So, I have no idea what happened but warning to all of how fast a fire grows in a boat.

Maybe someone will find the source. I will not post this again (painful) so please if you want to feel free to post to KK and TF sites.

Thanks, Craig and Pat boatless.......p.s. many thanks to the Marathon community for extraordinary help and Dotty aboard Cool Beans for the clothes we needed.
 
It is a very Merry Christmas for them!!!
Point of ignition will be VERY interesting and educational for all of us.
 
We just had this discussion on another thread.

It was strongly suggested, call 911 and run. Of course, staying around to answer the questions from the FD. Gas or diesel might be their first question.
Per untying the boat and backing it out of the slip?
Sounds like a good idea provided you do not put your life endanger but, a boat floating around the marina on fire? Makes it difficult if not impossible for the FD to put water on the fire plus, the boat at the whim of the changing winds.
I dont think there is a correct answer to this question.
 
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My heart sinks looking at those photos but is bouyed by knowing Craig and Pat are safe.

What a horrible experience to live through but at least they lived through it.

Fire causes my highest 'threat level' on a boat...sinking is a distant second. Looking forward to learning more to maybe save my girl from the same fate some day.

Thank God you're safe, Craig and Pat!
 
Two Christmas wishes.

Wish that the insurance company does right by you.

Wish that you both feel safe enough to purchase the next home afloat and continue living the dream.

Best,

the Sonas crew.
 
So glad to hear everyone is ok. :thumb:Such a horrible loss. We grow attached, get settled in and really get to know our individual boats. Keep us all informed along the way, maybe we'll learn something in the meantime to help a future boater, thats the best we can hope for.
 
Any boat fire is sad news but a Manatee fire hits home.
So glad to hear the owners escaped with no injures.
Thanks to the fast action isolating the fire from the marina.
Craig I hope later you can share the investigation results, it might save another boat owners boat.
 
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I believe the insurance company has totaled it.
 
We are extremely happy that you both are safe; and, that everyone in the area remained safe.

Makes us to always be ever so careful. If we at all experience any unusual doings/circumstances regarding electricity... this thread will come immediately to mind to have us most fully research what may be the causes.
 
I can believe that the fire started in the flat screen TV. The circuit feeding the TV likely has a 15 amp breaker which is more than enough power to ignite a piece of failing electronics.

There is a member of this board who had a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) on his home computer that nearly started a fire. The electronics within the UPS were cooking off and the only warning was an odor in the house.

This is my story of a piece of electronics cooking off that I wrote about for another thread. It's extremely rare that this happens, but it does happen.

Trawler Forum - View Single Post - Led

My take away is that if you have infrequently used items with electronic switches as opposed to a mechanical switch, unplug them if you're not using them. Secondly, put proper size fuses on unfused items such as LED lights.

Ted
 
So glad they're ok.

It's interesting that on Wednesday there was a fire on a 120' Benetti on Watson Island in Miami.

I don't know that it had anything to do with this fire, but if you experience any issue in hooking up to shore power including tripping, then stop right there.

Again, so happy no one injured.
 
FlyWright said:
A likely candidate for certain but I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet. Lots of other sources for fire.
Click to expand...

That's for sure!

However, what was mentioned about electricity as maybe being a potential cause in this disaster brought back memory of a malfunctioning main-breaker electrical overload experience we had aboard one evening during Christmas season 2008. It was momentarily scary... but, disaster averted
 
Art said:
That's for sure!

However, what was mentioned about electricity as maybe being a potential cause in this disaster brought back memory of a malfunctioning main-breaker electrical overload experience we had aboard one evening during Christmas season 2008. It was momentarily scary... but, disaster averted
Click to expand...

My bad. Somehow I completely missed the post by Larry.
 
I have been involved in several boat fire investigations, hired indirectly by insurance companies. Got one open case right now.

In general, the ins co will send fire investigators and if needed sub-specialists to try to find the cause. They do this as they are on the hook for the total of the loss (lots of $$) and often something else (such as a TV) is the cause, and they can subrogate, recovering some of their payout.

It often is not easy to find the cause due to the level of damage. And sometimes once the true cause is found, it is completely different from what everybody initially thought.

Glad y'all got out ok and that the damage is (mostly) contained to only one boat. Let the process go through its steps. It can be painfully slow. In this case I would expect it to be a "total", which while sad, can be quicker than if attempts are made for a repair.
 
Holy cow! Very sad about the boat being a total loss but Craig and Pat are okay and that's the important part. My best wishes for a speedy and fair settlement so they can get on with their lives. Keep us posted, please.
 
Ski in NC said:
In this case I would expect it to be a "total", which while sad, can be quicker than if attempts are made for a repair.
Click to expand...

Upon suggesting that they “may total the boat anyway”, I was assured that there was no doubt about it. Then I saw a few videos of the fire company putting the blaze out, and believe me, it’s totally gutted. Hard to believe the outside structure managed to keep its form. Even more, the boat looked stable with so much water in the bilge. They fought the fire for an hour.
 
Just read thread, thank you for all the kind reply's. the team from the mark anthony mega yacht will be doing the inspection next week, I will keep you informed of the outcome. cpt.craig
 
I have been told often, the new TVs are never really off unless they are unplugged.
 
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