By Dominic Abassi

VIDEO: U.S. fishing boat sinks near Gabriola Island after fire

Sep 2, 2017 | 2:18 PM

NANAIMO — An American fishing boat that caught fire off the southern tip of Gabriola Island is now at the bottom of the ocean.

A Coast Guard spokesperson confirmed to NanaimoNewsNOW the Sea Valley II sank in about 200-metres of water sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, after catching fire around 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 30. A minimal amount of fuel leaked when the fishing vessel went down near Thrasher Rock, the spokesperson said.

“The owner is mitigating and looking after issues. We’ll be working with the owner, salvage and insurance to monitor the situation,” he said, adding it will be up to the owner’s insurance company to determine a plan for removal.

The Nanaimo Port Authority’s manager of marine operations Rod Ground said the boat burned for roughly one hour before the flames were initially attacked. He said a lack of information in the original Mayday call led to their crews responding on the NPA Eagle, a patrol boat less-equipped to handle large blazes. The NPA Osprey, a boat unveiled last summer and valued at more than $1 million, didn’t end up battling the fire, Ground said.

“Once they got on scene and we found it was a 22-metre fishing vessel, they realized the vessel they were in was not the one for the job.”

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Ground said the Eagle wasn’t able to get close enough to the steel boat to use its fire-smothering foam because of intense heat and a quarter-mile restriction zone put in place by the Coast Guard. “Once it’s (a steel boat) heated up, basically you have an oven you’re trying to put out so large volumes of water are needed.”

Before the Osprey arrived on scene, Ground said a Seaspan ferry came by and used their monitors to knock down the flames, allowing the Eagle to get close enough to spray some foam.

Ground said he’s confident the Osprey would have been able to get the job done had they received more information initially. “If you’re looking at a beach fire, small vessel, something that’s made out of fibreglass, the Eagle is what you’re looking for. The Osprey is large volume, working from a distance. If they were on board that vessel at the time of that fire, things would’ve been extinguished a lot sooner than what we ended up with out there.”

Outfitting the NPA’s two patrol boats with firefighting systems reportedly cost about $300,000, $80,000 of which was covered by the City of Nanaimo.

The five men rescued from the U.S.-based fishing boat were not injured.

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi