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A fire burns on a dock where at least 35 vessels, many of them houseboats, were destroyed by fire.
A fire burns on a dock where at least 35 vessels, many of them houseboats, were destroyed by fire. Photograph: DeWayne Patterson/AP
A fire burns on a dock where at least 35 vessels, many of them houseboats, were destroyed by fire. Photograph: DeWayne Patterson/AP

Giant fire in Alabama marina kills at least eight

This article is more than 4 years old

Blaze that began in early hours Monday destroys at least 35 boats and cuts off escape routes

A huge fire killed at least eight people and destroyed dozens of boats in an Alabama marina early on Monday, with witnesses describing a terrifying, fast-moving blaze and fire officials warning the death toll could rise.

Tommy Jones, a Jackson county park marina resident who survived but lost his brother in the cold water, said the fire was spread rapidly by the wind. He watched helplessly as a small boat containing a woman and her children was engulfed in flames.

“There was nothing we could do,” he said.

The Scottsboro fire chief, Gene Necklaus, said all eight people who were known to be missing had been confirmed dead, and “that number could go up, because we don’t know how many were on boats” that sank.

The fire began just after midnight and quickly consumed the dock as people slept. The wooden dock and at least 35 vessels went up in flames and an aluminum roof that covered many of the boats melted and collapsed, cutting off escape routes and raining debris over the area as boaters leaped into the river.

Jones said he was aboard his 35ft cabin cruiser when someone came banging on the boat after midnight saying: “Man, the marina is on fire.” The flames were racing out to the far end of the dock where Jones’s boat was tied.

Jones said he and several other men cut some boats free and sent them drifting out into the water. When a man placed his wife and children into a small boat, they cut that boat free too. Finally, Jones said, he jumped into the water and swam for shore, 200 yards away. He believes his brother Yancey Roper, who lived aboard another boat, swam in a different direction. Officials later told him that his brother had drowned.

As Jones was swimming for shore in water with a temperature in the mid-50s, he said, “I looked back and that other boat with the wife and the children on it was all engulfed in flames”.

At least seven people were sent to hospitals suffering from exposure to the flames or the frigid water.

“It was scary. The worst thing for me is you could hear people screaming for help, and there was nothing we could do. Nobody could do anything to get to them,” said Julie Jackson, who lives with her husband and son in a houseboat on another dock that did not burn.

“There were numerous people rescued from the water who had escaped by going into the water,” Rocky Harnen, the Jackson county chief sheriff’s deputy, told the AP shortly after dawn. “We’re trying to get divers down here to search for possible victims.”

People were jumping on to a boat at the end of the dock because fire had consumed the middle portion and that was their only escape. But then the flames spread to that boat, leaving water as their only way out, Durham said.

“Water was the only place they had to go,” Durham said. “It’s just extremely sad. It’s horrible.”

Michael Watson, a Georgia resident, said his aunt lived with her husband and five children on one of the boats that burned. He said his aunt was confirmed among the dead and authorities were still looking for the other six family members. Officials have not released the names of any of those killed or missing.

Hours after sunrise, smoke was still rising from the remains of a wooden dock, and pieces of metal that once formed the roof were partially submerged. Police and fire boats with flashing lights were positioned near the charred remains, and a yellow floating boom was being deployed around the marina to contain spilled fuel.

Most of the boats that were destroyed had people living on them permanently, but some mainly spent weekends on them, Durham said. The park includes a boat ramp, a dock and a restaurant, and offers boat rentals, according to Jackson county’s government website.

“Everybody is just hoping to find the ones they knew on that dock. There were families there. It’s devastating,” Durham said.

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