Fire rescue crews douse final hot spots on a boat docked in the Newcastle Marina, which caught fire Thursday afternoon. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

considerable response

Boat fire at Nanaimo’s Newcastle marina quickly handled

Nov 9, 2023 | 12:43 PM

NANAIMO — Firefighters were quick to douse a fire on board a sailboat.

Crews were called out to the Newcastle Marina off the 1300 block of Stewart Ave. just before 12 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 9 with flames and smoke shooting from a boat’s cabin on the outer edge of the marina.

Assistant fire chief Stu Kenning said on scene, they found no one was on board at the time.

“The damage has been confined to one boat and the crews got here, knocked the fire down fast.”

No one was injured in the incident with flames extinguished in about 15 minutes.

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Kenning was unable to say what the cause of the fire was, noting Nanaimo Port Authority had taken over the scene to ensure no fuel, oil, or other harmful fluids had spilled into the surrounding water.

The owner of the roughly 40-foot-long vessel was not on scene during the fire but was notified.

Firefighters required time to get water to the site due to a lengthy hose line from the nearest hydrant and trucks parked on the street. The first responding engine hooked up to a Stewart Ave. hydrant and then ran lines along the dock.

“We’ll extend about a two-and-a-half-inch hose about three-quarters of the way then we’ll extend a smaller hose from there to actually extinguish the fire with.”

Kenning said fire rescue vehicles typically come loaded with between 400 and 500 gallons of water, then hook into hydrants to control flows from there.

Nanaimo RCMP officers shut down traffic along Stewart Ave. to allow fire rescue crews to run a hydrant line.

Before a traffic block could be established, several vehicles were reportedly seen driving over the top of the lines, something which Kenning strongly discouraged.

Nanaimo Port Authority aided Nanaimo Fire Rescue crews in dealing with a boat fire at the Newcastle Marina on Thursday afternoon. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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