As reported by http://www.newsroompanama.com
AN INVESTIGATION is underway into fires that destroyed three boats moored off the Amador Causeway on Friday night, June 17.
The Panama Fire Department took an hour and 15 minutes to bring the fires under control and has begun an investigation into the cause, said Panama Fire Chief Angel Delgado.
No injuries were reported.
So far the causes of the fires are not known.
In its Twitter account, the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) reported that the Balboa Yacht Club services have been suspended as a result of the fire. They are temporarily operating from a pier on Perico Island.
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An update from Rick Kain, Vice Commodore of the Balboa Yacht Club:
I’d like to correct some of the misstatements in the earlier post concerning the fire last Friday night at Balboa Yacht Club.
The only correct statement was that three boats were lost. While the incident is still under investigation, here are some facts.
The owners representative of 10 years standing was aboard the vessel when the fire broke out. He reported later that he smelled smoke. When he went to investigate, the fire exploded. The fire quickly spread resulting in the owners representative having to jump overboard to save himself. He stated that there were multiple fire extinguishers aboard, including a fixed unit in the engine space.
The fire started within 20 minutes of high tide. The vessel was at the north end of the North mooring field. If it had sunk in place there was the potential of burning fuel flowing throughout the entire mooring field and dock area.
If it had burned through the mooring lines, the burning vessel would have had several hours to drift through the mooring field with the potential for even more damage.
BYC employees attempted to extinguish the fire using the oversized fire extinguishers aboard the launch. The fire was too extensive, making the extinguishers ineffective.
The BYC employees then attempted to move the burning vessel to keep other boats from harm, unfortunately, they were unable to maintain control with the fully involved vessel. The vessel then drifted into two other vessels, catching them on fire.
The first vessel ultimately drifted underneath the metal bridge, spanning the cement pier with the floating dock. BYC employees had already turned off the fuel supply, so there was minimal fuel in the lines to burn. The two other burning vessels were towed out of the mooring field and safely beached.
A heroic BYC employee was able to maneuver a launch to tow the first boat away from the bridge and beach it safely with the other two burning boats.
The bridge structure sustained minimal damage, which was repaired within three days. The dock is now fully open for business, except for selling fuel.
Rick Kain
Vice Commodore
Balboa Yacht Club
Further update from Shirley:
Repairs have been made at BYC after the fire and it now operational again with the exception that fuel is not currently available.
An update from Karsten Staffeldt in Panama:
Balboa Yacht Club is slowly getting back to normal services. Fire still under investigation and no report yet.
Cruisers should remember that all the Marinas and Landings around Balboa: Balboa Yacht Club, Mi Playita Marina, and Brisas de Amador, are not only servicing local and visiting yachts, but also an extensive amount of commercial traffic such as the launches servicing the Islands in the Gulf of Panama and the commercial ships at the Canal.
Flamenco Marina has mainly local yachts and some visitors.
The Landing at Brisas de Amador is operated by the Government and is now to a large extent repaired, with a floating pier (pontoon) and a bridge to shore. However
facilities for dinghy moorings around the landing are limited.