A fire was called in for a large yacht in Fort Lauderdale on Marina Bay Drive on April 24. Units from Fort Lauderdale Fire and Rescue’s (FLFR) 2nd and 16th battalion were called to the scene of the two-alarm blaze, where heavy smoke could be seen pouring from the vessel on the dock. FLFR reported online that there was heavy fire below.
From the images, the vessel appears to be the 2001 27.5-meter Proteksan M/Y Tivoli, which was designed by Vripack.
No firefighters were injured, but one person was treated and released on the scene for smoke inhalation, according to Battalion Chief Gregory May. It took 40 firefighters and the Fort Lauderdale Fire department’s fire boat to extinguish the blaze in an hour. May says the fire appeared to be unintentional and was due to work being done on board.
The vessel’s bow section was damaged, and the entire vessel was subject to smoke damage. “It could have been worse,” says May, who explained that the conditions aboard the vessel were tricky. “Going into a boat is more challenging,” he says. There was a spiral staircase, which made working with the hoses more difficult, and door positioning also complicated their access. “Heat rises, so firefighters usually go up into the heat and fire, but you’re going down into the heat and fire on a boat, like a basement fire,” he says. While May says the firefighters train on boats, they’re not called to boat fires every day.
UPDATED: 5/1