Recent Boat Fire Makes MA Firefighters Prepare for Future

HAVERHILL, MA—It happened once and it's bound to happen again, city fire officials say.

They say they are looking into ways of better responding to fires on boats, as investigators probe a fire that destroyed a large boat docked along the Merrimack River on Sept. 6.

Firefighters had trouble battling the blaze because the boat was on the river and drifted away from the dock.

Haverhill's success in developing a boating community on the river in recent years has the Fire Department concerned it will eventually face another such fire. It has the department wanting to be better prepared the next time.

City officials have made developing boating on the river a priority, and they have been successful. In the last several years, the city has gained many docks and boats on the Merrimack.

The fire that is causing officials to have concerns for the future happened the afternoon of Sept. 6. A 52-foot recreational boat caught fire while the occupants were doing maintenance work on the vessel, according to Fire Chief William Laliberty. The boat was docked on the river behind 1 Jamaica Lane, which is off East Broadway. There were no reports of injuries.

According to a police report, just after 3:30 p.m. Sept. 6 officers were dispatched to 639 East Broadway for a report of a boat on fire. The harbormaster also responded, police said.

Police said they were directed to a dock behind 1 Jamaica Lane, where there were two fires raging: a wooden dock was burning, and the boat was in flames and drifting away from the dock.

Police said firefighters who responded were able to extinguish the dock fire, but were unable to reach the boat because it had drifted to an area that was not accessible.

The harbormaster kept onlookers away from the burning boat, police said. Police said the boat eventually sank where it had run aground and that it was almost completely submerged.

The Massachusetts Environmental Police, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the state Department of Environmental Protection were all notified of the fire. Laliberty said state environmental officials were notified because there was a gas leak from the boat, which its operator said was loaded with about 120 gallons of fuel.

The state environmental police as well as the Haverhill police and fire departments are overseeing the investigation.

Leonard "Buddy" Thomas said he purchased the property at 1 Jamaica Lane several years ago and that his docks are used by his son, who has a small boat and a few wave-runners. Thomas said the docks are also used by a friend who owns the 52-foot-long 2014 "Outerlimits" brand powerboat that was destroyed in the fire.

"We were working on the boat and had just turned on the ignition when something happened that caused a fire," Thomas said. "We immediately got out of the boat."

He said there were several people on the dock and that one of them may have called 9-1-1.

Thomas, who owns Merrimack Valley Corp. and Climate Design Inc. in Methuen, said the owner of the powerboat often enters it in charitable events.

Laliberty said boat fires are rare, with the last one in Haverhill happening about 20 years ago, but that he wants his department to be better prepared for them in the future.

"It would be nice to have a fire boat with a pump on it,'' he said. "Right now we have a 1976, 16-foot Boston Whaler that doesn't have a fire pump. We're looking into obtaining a portable pump to have some form of firefighting capability, and I'm in discussions with the mayor in hopes of buying a new boat capable of multiple tasks."

Laliberty said he realizes Haverhill has priorities other than a new boat, and that he's grateful the city is replacing two fire engines and buying a rescue truck — purchases that are planned in the Fire Department budget.

"I applaud the mayor for finding the funds to purchase this apparatus," he said.

Laliberty said firefighters had a difficult time reaching the area the powerboat had drifted while burning.

"There was a long driveway down an unpaved path and it took a while for us to get down there," he said. "Our ladder can stretch 100 feet, and we can shoot water even farther, but in this area it would have been impossible. The boat drifted away in a remote, swampy area we could not get to it by land. As we go along East Broadway, there are not many direct roads."

Laliberty said the standard method of fighting a boat fire is to pour water onto it, and even if firefighters did so, the outcome would likely have been the same — a fast-moving, intense fire.

"The fire allowed it to burn off the gas and prevented fuel from escaping into the water," he said. "There's a lot to putting out a boat fire as you have to consider the environmental impact."

Harbormaster Michael Vets said the powerboat was made of lightweight, carbon fiber that burns hot and furiously and can be difficult to extinguish.

"I tried to get close to pull it away from his dock, which was also on fire, but it was burning too hot and it turned into one, big charcoal blob," said Vets, who indicated he was less than a quarter-mile from the burning boat when he saw smoke. "I flew down there and it was fully engulfed in flames."

Vets said that even if he had a water pump on his boat, he would not have been able to save the powerboat.

"As I got closer it was making popping sounds,'' he said, "so I put my boat in reverse, so I would not get blown up.''

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