Editor’s note: below is an update from Islands Oil Spill Association’s Jackie Wolf about the boat fire at Roche Harbor Resort.
— As of 1:20 pm, the vessel is still burning but close to sinking.
IOSA was contacted at 11:10 a.m. and asked to send responders to the scene. Roche Harbor personnel had already towed the IOSA trailer, with 1,100-foot of boom, to the boat ramp and as of 1:20 p.m., all the boom had been deployed.
IOSA currently has 9 certified personnel working on the situation, as well as IOSA’s workboat, the Green Heron.
All are on scene and waiting until the burning boat finally sinks before beginning work. So far there has been no report of fuel in the water, although it is known that there is 1,500 gallons of diesel in the stern tank of the vessel.
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An 85-foot luxury yacht moored at Roche Harbor Resort appears to be completely destroyed after fire broke out onboard the 85-foot vessel Wednesday morning.
A billowing cloud of black smoke could be seen rising over the resort and above the north end of San Juan Island as firefighters on shore and onboard San Juan Island Fire Department’s fireboat Confidence continued to battled the blaze several hours after the fire was first reported.
The boat was reportedly unoccupied at the time.
A witness said a small cloud of black smoke could be seen rising from the “Ocean Alexander” at about 10 a.m.
“When we got there they had the whole area down by the dock cornered off and they weren’t letting anyone down there,” said Jim Sherman, who arrived at the scene at about 12:30 p.m.
A San Juan County Sheriff’s dispatcher was heard over a police scanner notifying firefighters about a boat fire at Roche Harbor Resort at about 11:30 a.m.
The U.S. Coast Guard detachment is at the scene as well.
Sherman said others at the scene say that the yacht was among several at the marina advertised as for sale, and it’s reportedly valued at $7 million.
Wednesday’s fire marks the worst, but perhaps the costliest, in four years at the popular resort and marina at the island’s north end. In 2009, two boats moored side-by-side were destroyed after flames from one skipped across a dock and ignited the other.
— Scott Rasmussen