Three boats have sunk after a fire at a marina on Vancouver Island Sunday, according to the local fire department.
Firefighters were called to Van Isle Marina in Sidney, B.C., a town of about 12,300, around 25 kilometres north of Victoria, just after 7:30 a.m. PT.
Sidney Fire Chief Brett Mikkelsen said firefighters could tell it was a large fire from a distance due to a “large black column of smoke.”
“We could see flames from almost a kilometre away,” Mikkelsen said. “So that gives you an idea of the size and … how much fuel was actually burning.”
On arrival, firefighters found three 65-to-70-foot yachts engulfed in flames.
Crews were able to keep the fire away from nearby vessels until they could be moved, but the three boats that were on fire all sank in their slips at the marina, according to Mikkelsen.
No one was injured and no one was aboard the boats that sank, he added.
The fire department believes the fire was burning for at least 15 to 20 minutes before it was paged, according to Mikkelsen.
The Coast Guard’s joint response coordination centre tasked the CCGS Cape St. James and CCG Ganges Station to respond to the incident, according to the Department of National Defence in an emailed statement.
“Pollution containment was established on-scene and the Canadian Coast Guard’s marine environmental and hazards response program is liaising with marina officials and monitoring the situation,” said the statement.
The marina has engaged Western Canada Marine Response Corporation to provide clean-up services, according to the department.
Van Isle Marina did not respond to CBC News’ request for comment.
B.C.’s Environment Ministry said the Coast Guard, as the lead agency, will put together an environmental response plan.
The ministry had an emergency response officer on site monitoring the situation.
As the boats are now under water, the fire department will not be able to immediately investigate the cause of the fire, according to Mikkelsen, though he expects the department will be involved when the hulls are brought to the surface.
Mikkelsen said there was some fire damage to the dock infrastructure.
Mikkelsen said firefighters brought along the department’s marina fire protection trailer to help protect the boats adjacent to those on fire.
The trailer includes specially constructed carts that can fit all of the docks and gangways in Sidney’s multiple marinas.
It’s also equipped with two lightweight, high-powered Tohatsu marina fire protection pumps that can push out 540 gallons a minute, according to Mikkelsen.
“It is kind of a specialized resource that we’ve kind of built over time because this is something we do probably a lot more than other municipalities,” he said, noting that Sidney, only five square kilometres in size, is home to two of the largest yacht marinas on the West Coast.
