Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi says that Lithium batteries likely exacerbated a boat fire last week that destroyed a 65-foot yacht at the Longboat Key Club Moorings.
“Nobody was on board and the owner was out of the country when some passer-bys noticed smoke coming from the cabin door and called 911,” said Dezzi.
Longboat firefighters were quickly on the scene but Dezzi said the fire was not responding to either water or foam, and it took sinking the boat to submerge the batteries, to help squelch the fire.
The boat, ironically named Steady AF, sat partially submerged until the owner and his insurance company coordinated its move to Fort Myers for a complete evaluation.
Dezzi said the boat is only two years old but is a total loss. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to the scene and set up barriers to keep any fuel or chemicals from leaking into the surrounding waterway.
If the boat had basic smoke/fire detection maybe a passer-by would have heard the detector going off long before the smoke started showing… The marine industry refuses to require and install basic fire detection that the rest of us have had in place for over 50 years.