Crime & Safety
Fire Department Called to Marina on Silver Strand; Boat Sinks from Damage
The fire, which took Coronado firefighters two hours to extinguish, damaged two neighboring boats.
A family’s boat sank Thursday night after a two-alarm fire destroyed it and caused damage to two neighboring boats at .
The call was received by shortly after 8 p.m., and it took approximately two hours to completely extinguish the fire.
“We put water on it,” said 20-year fire veteran Joe Penolio of Engine 30. “That’s all we could do.”
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According to Dan Mastro, the division chief of the Coronado Fire Department, the family was on the boat when they smelled smoke and quickly left to call 911.
“There was heavy smoke,” Mastro said. “By the time we got the hose lines down on the dock, the boat flashed.”
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“Flashing” refers to an object becoming fully engulfed in flame, Mastro said.
He said the fire immediately spread to an adjacent boat and firefighters worked quickly to contain it.
“The primary concern at that point was getting water on the third boat, which was also being threatened,” Mastro said.
He said they extinguished the fire using ground water before bringing in the harbor police fireboats, which use a foam retardant.
The type of boat, which sank at around 9:30 p.m., and its value is not known at this time.
Though there is speculation that it was an electrical fire, Mastro said the actual cause has yet to be determined.