No one was injured, but a fishing boat docked at Port Hardy’s Fisherman’s Wharf was badly damaged after it went up in flames Sunday morning, say fire officials.
The vessel is “destroyed, unfortunately,” said Denis Taylor, commanding officer with the Port Hardy Coast Guard, in an interview with CHEK News.
“The fire started early in the morning,” he said. “The fire department got on scene and knocked the fire down, and it’s just been removed from the water now.”
George Deigh lives nearby and says he was awoken by a “strange sound coming from outside” around 6:30 a.m. He looked out the window and saw a boat was on fire, so he called 911.
“Dispatch indicated a number of calls coming in,” he said.
Deigh captured photos of the blaze and sent them to CHEK News.
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(Photos: George Deigh)
Port Hardy Fire Chief Brent Borg says no one was on or around the boat when fire crews arrived on scene. He says about a dozen firefighters were called to the wharf, which is located off Hardy Bay Road in the inner basin of Hardy Bay.
He says the boat was “fully involved” in flames when they got there.
“Nobody was on the boat, no. Unfortunately, they (the boat’s owners) were going fishing today. So they’re not going fishing now,” said Borg.
“It’s halibut season. It’s very unfortunate,” added Taylor.
Borg says it took crews about half an hour to put the fire out.
“There were still hot spots, but we knocked it down pretty fast,” the fire chief added.
“Had a good crew show up. They did what they had to do and put it out pretty quickly. They didn’t sink the boat. That’s always our goal — don’t sink it. No environmental damage, no sheen on the water.”
Crews from the fire department and Coast Guard worked together to pull the boat out of the water. Taylor says his team then towed the vessel to the dock.
“It’s going to head off to salvage,” added Borg.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown.
READ ALSO: 4 rescued by Canadian Coast Guard in waters off Port Hardy
Ethan Morneau
