Boat owners affected by McCotter's Marina fire receive help

WASHINGTON, N.C. - Some boat owners affected by last month's massive fire at McCotter’s Marina got some much needed help today.

A group called the “Salty Southeast Cruisers” set up a fund for the victims of the McCotter's Marina fire.

The “Fire Relief Fund” is raising money to help more than two dozen boat owners. The money got handed out for the first time today.

The fire broke out in the early morning hours of January 7th. An entire dock was destroyed, along with several boats.

On January 12^th, boat owners were allowed back to the marina.

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WASHINGTON, N.C. - Some of the heavy lifting involved in the cleanup of McCotters Marina in Washington got started on Tuesday. Dozens of boats were destroyed by the fire at the marina 11 days ago, and today a recovery team spent hours pulling the first of those boats out of the water.

A 34-foot cruising trawler called “Pandora” bears the scars of both fire and water. It took eight hours for a team of divers and a tug boat operation to move it. There was too much risk to rush the job.

"Making sure that your crew is mentally there and they're not getting too cold where they're getting distracted because when you get distractions, that's when stuff happens,” said Lee Sykes, Tug Boat U.S. owner.

The team needed seven inflatable bags to raise the boat from the bottom. They provided just enough air to move the boat. It was a job made more precarious because of the water.

"Most of the time, we can stay in the water 10 to 12 hours a day doing a large scale salvage operation, but with water temps this cold, you're limited to an hour of dive time a day," said Sykes.

The crew went after Pandora first because of its dangerous position after the fire.

Pandora created its own hazard when it drifted away from the other burning boats docked in the marina. Stuck in 8-feet of water and 2-feet of mud, Pandora blocked boat traffic on the water.

"We did not want any boater that was transiting the area to hit the wreckage," said Sykes.

Roughly 28 more boats are still left in the water. Sykes says his team will be back at the marina Wednesday to assess the other boats he's been hired to remove.

An insurance adjustor at the scene responsible for Pandora puts its damage at $50,000.

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WASHINGTON, N.C. - Work is underway at McCotter’s Marina to begin removing the boats destroyed in the fire there 11 days ago.

The big concern is the danger to other boaters.

Dive teams hit the water around 9:30 this morning to lift the first boat out of the water. It was destroyed in that fire a week and a half ago along with dozens of others.

The boat is "The Pandora." It's a 34-foot trawler that sunk in the fire.

The problem is it drifted away from the other boats and into a spot where it poses an underwater danger to regular boating traffic. Boaters could run into it without knowing it. 

The recovery team has some floating devices in the water.

The crew hopes to have it on the surface in about an hour.

Once that's done, workers will assess the boats cordoned off by the boom and determine their next move.

And possibly, to try to get the next boat out of the water.

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WASHINGTON, N.C. - It's been several days since a massive fire destroyed an entire dock at McCotter’s Marine in Washington.

Crews have been working around the clock to clean up the spilled fuel.

It also injured several people and displaced a number of families. Several of the boat owners actually lived on their vessels.

Since the fire, no one has been allowed to go back to their boats without a Coast Guard escort until today. 

You can't bring back what's been destroyed in a fire, so emergency managers focused on one thing. “We have continued to keep the environment as top priority during this cleanup,” said John Pack, Beaufort County Emergency Services Coordinator. 

Most of the petroleum burned off in the fire but still, cleanup crews have managed to collect 63 barrels of oil soaked absorbent pads as of Sunday. They are trying to keep it out of Broad Creek.

John Pack said the rough winter weather slowed them down, “But the wind has actually been helping us collect the materials so we didn't have to get in between every single boat.”

The fires burned only one dock, but clean up crews stretched two-thousand feet of boom around the entire marina to contain any loose fuel. Now, only the areas around the damaged dock will be boomed off.

“But if there is a release of any diesel fuel or any other fuels we'll be able to capture it and keep it within that area and protect the environment,” said Pack.

Boat owners have been locked out of the marina for their safety. Emergency managers say some boat owners had been sleeping on their vessels and the fuel in the water creates a health hazard for them. Now, they're moving back in.

While the problem's been contained, Pack said the work is far from over, “By no means is the Coast Guard, the locals, or the state leaving.  We will be here to monitor what's going on with the salvage.            

Emergency managers say marina staff might be able to begin cleaning up the damaged dock area as early as next week. 

The Beaufort County Red Cross took a hard hit from the fire too covering several days' worth of food and hotel costs for the victims. Emergency managers are now looking for ways to donate to the Red Cross to get their budget back on track.

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WASHINGTON, N.C. - Crews are still working to clean up the mess a fire made at a Beaufort County marina.

The Coast Guard supervised oil clean up efforts at McCotters Marina in Washington over the weekend. 26 vessels burned to the waterline dumping diesel fuel and gas into the water.

Crews set up a containment boom around the marina to isolate the pollution. Coast Guard officials say they're making a strong headway in the clean up process. They collected more than 60 barrels of oiled absorbent pads.

Officials say weather poses a challenge, and that they'll have to balance quick clean up efforts while still keeping their personnel safe.

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WASHINGTON, N.C.- Crews in Washington spent the day working to control pollution after Friday’s fire at McCotter’s Marina.

The early-morning fire destroyed 26 boats.  Workers dropped 2,000 feet of boom around the marina to contain gasoline and oil in the water.  The Coast Guard hired Eastern Environmental Management to clean up whatever didn't burn off Friday.  Crews say they're trying to prevent long-term damage.

“We're also trying to ensure that the environment is returned to the same condition because it's very important that we clean up what oil we can,” said Harry Hueston, Coast Guard Coordinator. “We can't get it all, but we'll get the majority of it and we'll get that up and out of the environment.”

Boat owners who didn't have property damage can go down to the marina.  They will need a Coast Guard escort during the cleanup.

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WASHINGTON, N.C – Investigators say an electrical fault is the cause of an early-morning fire at McCotter's Marina that injured three people and damaged 25 boats along with a dock.

Foul play is not suspected.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office says the 911 call came in around 12:30 Friday morning.

When crews arrived on the scene, they found the north dock was engulfed in flames. They worked to get boats out of the way of the fire but 25 of them were damaged with most being a total loss. A covered dock was also lost to the fire.

Three people were treated for minor injuries including burns and hypothermia.

The U.S. Coast Guard is on the scene to see how bad, if any, the environmental damage is from the fire.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Hobucken, N.C. got the word from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department of a fire at the marina around 1 AM this morning. They immediately launched a 24-foot rescue boat crew.

A boat crew from Coast Guard Station Hobucken is still on the scene monitoring the situation and has placed boom in the area to contain any debris and pollution from the fire. They've also contracted a cleanup company to respond to the scene.

Pollution investigators from Coast Guard Sector North Carolina are on scene as well to assess the amount of pollution caused by the fire. They're using a boom to contain any debris and pollution.

They say it could take several days to finish the clean-up.

Fire departments from Chocowinity, Bath, Washington, Bunyan, Clarks Neck, Old Ford and Cherry Point responded.

The 180-slip marina is on a creek off the Pamlico River.  That's about 35 miles inland from Pamlico Sound.