ROCKLEDGE, Fla. --
Brevard County Fire and Rescue said they responded to a 62-foot-long shrimping vessel on fire in the Intracoastal Waterway on Thursday afternoon.
Coast Guard officials said two men were on board when the fire broke out. Both men jumped off the vessel and swam to safety.
The Coast Guard said the boat then drifted toward a pier near Merritt Island. The burning vessel did not harm other watercraft, officials said.
"We lost everything," said fisherman Harry Towns.
The boat was named the Miss Kaitlyn, which was on its way from North Carolina to Louisiana. Shrimp fishermen Harry Towns and Rick Kilgore said they were caught completely by surprise when someone yelled to them that their just-purchased shrimp boat was on fire.
"We could have been killed if we tried to fight it," Towns said.
Officials said Coast Guard environmental units would assess any possible pollution concerns.
The shrimper was still alternately flaming and smoking as firefighters tried to put out the stubborn fire and pump off the fuel late Thursday.
The fishermen were taken in temporarily by a family living on Rockledge Drive.
The Red Cross will help them with a place to stay until they can get back to Louisiana and try to start again after collecting the insurance on their boat.
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