Fire causes $50,000 in damage to boat

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT HARBOR -- A fire erupted in the engine of a 58-foot motor

yacht Tuesday as it docked at the Balboa Bay Club shortly after noon

Tuesday.

The quick actions of two men kept the blaze under control and

contained the fire to the engine compartment, but not before it caused an

estimated $50,000 worth of damage, said John Blauer of the Newport Beach

Fire Department.

George Lang, the 52-year-old captain of the Bella, which was docked

nearby, and George Castro, 56, were helping to dock the yacht when the

fire broke out.

“I was tying it up when I saw smoke coming out of the engine,” Lang

said.

He and Castro went into the engine compartment and sealed it off from

the rest of the yacht to prevent the fire from spreading, Lang said.

Castro, who went into the engine compartment twice to contain the

flames, was sent to Hoag Hospital as a precaution for smoke inhalation,

but was released within hours.

Firefighters from the Newport Beach Fire Department and the Orange

County Sheriff’s Department were called and put the fire out, Blauer

said.

Before it was extinguished, the fire burnt through a fuel line,

spilling diesel into the bilge, said Sgt. Ron Peoples of the Sheriff’s

Department Harbor Patrol.

A gallon of diesel was dumped into the harbor by the bilge pump before

the Harbor Patrol could shut it down, he said.

Firefighters do not yet know what started the fire on the new,

$1.1-million vessel owned by Fredrick J. Hanshaw, but it was electrical

in nature, Blauer said.

Hanshaw could not be reached for comment.

Those who were first on the scene agreed that the cause of the fire

appeared to be wire troubles.

“It looked like it was some starter wires that burned through,” Lang

said.