Boat catches fire at Surrey’s Crescent Beach Marina
Posted September 21, 2023 1:54 pm.
Last Updated September 21, 2023 5:25 pm.
A boat caught fire while it was docked at the Crescent Beach Marina in Surrey Thursday afternoon.
The fire broke out around 12:15 p.m., and several callers told CityNews the smoke could be seen from Highway 99.
Crescent Beach Marina Manager Carol Charles says the boat began smoking at first. She and her crews went to go pull the vessel around to haul it out of the water, but then flames appeared.
Charles says the boat was then pushed into the nearby Nicomekl River to avoid flames spreading to any marina structures.
“It floated down the river a little bit and it’s burned to the waterline,” Charles said.
“The boat is gone, there’s nothing left of it — it sunk.”
Charles says Surrey Fire and Rescue Services did a “great job” taking control of the situation. She says firefighters accessed a nearby resident’s property and took a “whole pile of hoses” down to their dock to extinguish the flames.
Surrey Fire and Rescue Services tells CityNews that 16 firefighters responded to the burning boat, which has been identified as a “35-foot pleasure craft.”
Firefighters say the boat’s owner, local RCMP, and the local coast guard are working to clean up any floating debris and eventually remove the sunken vessel from the Nicomekl River, adding the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
With files from Martin MacMahon and Kurtis Doering
