Yacht fires don't only occur in marinas.

Even if you don't have a marina in your district, this can happen to you.

Here are two articles describing a yacht fire which occurred in Florida at the end of 2004 that appeared on the web publication The Triton. The author, Lisa Knapp was kind enough to allow me to reproduce them here and also to use her photos of this fire in some of our training seminars. Check out The Triton website for more articles on yacht fires and other articles on the megayacht industry by Lisa. Contact marine journalist Lisa Knapp with news or questions at Lisa@the-triton.com

The Triton: Nautical News for Captains and Crews November 2004

Officials believe the cause of the fire was electrical.

Fire destroys 55-foot yacht in marina By Lisa H. Knapp

A 55-foot Fairlane in South Florida burst into flames Oct. 11 just moments after leaving its slip at Turnberry Isle Yacht Club.

Its three passengers - the owner and two family members - jumped into the Intracoastal Waterway and swam to shore. None were injured. Fire officials from the city of Aventura suspect the cause of the fire to be electrical, but an investigation is under way. It was not known if the yacht was equipped with a halon system. Police would not disclose the name of the vessel, but confirmed that its crew were the owner and his family.

The owner tied off the rope to secure the boat to the dock, but flames burned through the line as the yacht, which carried more than 400 gallons of fuel, drifted into the Intracoastal. "We pushed the yacht with the marine patrol boats, bumping it to keep it in the center of the waterway, to prevent the fire from spreading to the other yachts," police Sgt. Mike Bentolila said. The fire is the first of its kind in Aventura, a dense community of high-end condominiums in Northern Miami-Dade County, about 20 miles south of Ft. Lauderdale. It is also the latest in a string of more than 10 yacht fires around the world this year. "We got lucky that it didn't spread to the other boats," Bentolila said. This could have been really bad." Turnberry Isle Yacht Club is a 117-slip marina, with resort hotel, condominium and golf courses.

Lisa H. Knapp is a freelance writer in Aventura, Florida. Contact her at lisa@the-triton.com.

Tied Up In Knots Lisa H. Knapp

I thought I'd seen practically every kind of yacht there was. Yachts are a big part of my life and livelihood. I live on the IntraCoastal, and have delighted - every day, for years - in yacht watching from my home.

As a captain's wife, I've seen up close the big yachts my husband has crewed on and yachts he's commissioned. There are yachts on our t-shirts, on our bedspread, on our magazines, and photos of special yachts on our refrigerator. I'm a boat show regular and even write about yachts and the people who crew on them, so I've seen many yachts. But the one yacht I'd never seen was a yacht that was on fire - until last month.

I'd just returned from my jog as the news broke that a 55-footer was ablaze in my neighborhood. I grabbed batteries for the camera, a notepad, my cell phone and a copy of The Triton and shoved them into my knapsack as I hustled over to the scene. As I snapped pictures, I thought about the fire and wondered how it started. It ended by gutting the vessel to a hollow hull.

A fire on a yacht is one of my worst fears. My husband once sea-trialed a yacht that had a fire. The halon system came on, so things didn't get out of hand. I got scared when he told me, and thought of how a fire onboard could change our lives, in an instant. My dad was discharged from his ship after an engine steamed in his face. I was about four, but remember the huge bandages on his eye. Children understand bandages. The bigger the bandage, the bigger the boo-boo.

As I shot photos, I thought it a minor miracle that this fire was contained to only one yacht. For a moment, the dock lines of neighboring vessels looked like long fuses programmed for one big kaboom - just blocks from my condo. This fire was a little reminder of the complete lack of control over what could happen to a loved one working on a boat. It hit just a little too close to home, for me, in every way.

Lisa Hoogerwerf Knapp is a freelance writer in Aventura, Florida. She is the wife and granddaughter of a captain, and the daughter and granddaughter of a marine engineer. Contact her at lisa@the-triton.com

Read this article and more yacht fires on www.the-triton.com