Washington Department of Ecology divers confirmed that fuel tanks inside a sunken 47-foot Coho that caught fire on Friday, Feb. 20 were empty and the spill response has been completed.
The owner of the boat, Peter McCorison of Eastsound, was not on board when the fire started. He had been on the boat that morning but was at lunch when the fire broke out.
“When I returned to the marina the fire was pretty involved,” McCorison said.
He says that it is conjecture, but the fire may have been caused by the stove which he had been using that morning. He has met with an insurance adjustor and other officials and says there will be no attempt to raise the boat he had owned for 6 years. He does not expect there to be any further investigation.
According to a joint press release from the Washington Department of Ecology and the U.S. Coast Guard, the vessel had 250 gallons of diesel on board before it sank.
Most of the fuel was consumed in the fire and that about 50 gallons went into the water, estimated Carl Andersen, an Ecology spill responder.
Although oil sheen was still visible Saturday, responders consider the remaining diesel to be unrecoverable and the oil spill containment boom was removed. The remaining fuel in the water will dissipate naturally over time with wind and sun. Responders do not expect any remaining oil to reach the shoreline.
Orcas Fire and Rescue and firefighters from Friday Harbor responded to the fire.
Firefighters along with West Sound Marina boat owners used hose lines on the dock to protect two exposed boats, which had, began to burn.
McCorison’s vessel, which was fully consumed by fire, drifted away from the dock and burned for 15 minutes before the Friday Harbor Fire Department fireboat ‘Confidence’ and The Coast Guard Cutter “Blue Shark” responded to the fire and were able to extinguish it. The burned vessel eventually sank in 57 feet of water.
“All of our crews and the marina residents worked very well together from preventing a single boat fire from spreading into a marina fire,” said OIFR Incident Commander, Lt. Chad Kimple.
At dusk on Saturday, the Coast Guard conducted an over flight to see the extent of the spill and after dark, Ecology requested the Washington State Patrol to conduct an over flight of the spill with infrared technology to assess the success of the containment boom that circled the spill scene.
Although there was no spill initially, a rainbow sheen of diesel fuel from the vessel developed and grew throughout Friday afternoon.
Officials say the boat caught on fire from unknown causes.
