Fire Damages Five Boats In Lacey

A wind-whipped fire destroyed five boats and damaged two others early Thursday at a marina near Barnegat Bay.

But firefighters said the stiff south wind actually spared several other boats nearby by blowing the flames away from them. No one was injured in the 1:30 a.m. fire at the Ocean Beach Marine Centers, and the cause of the blaze remained under investigation.

"It looked like a tenement fire," said Jerry Pepin, a captain with the Lanoka Harbor Fire Co., and one of the first firefighters to arrive at the blaze. "It was pretty impressive."

A boater on the scene estimated damage from the blaze at between a half-million and a million dollars, although no official estimates were available Thursday morning.

Four of the five boats that were destroyed burned right down to the ground, leaving only their metal railings and anchors lying on the ground. A fifth had been propped up on cinder blocks, and had a partial hull remaining.

A large luxury boat next to the fire suffered some damage from heat, as did a smaller one parked nearby. But the wind blew the flames away from those vessels, probably saving them, Pepin said.

A man who identified himself only as Vic came to the fire scene on behalf of his friend, the owner of one of the destroyed boats, to give him a damage report over the phone.

"Your boat is one big cinder," Vic told his friend. "You can't even tell it was a boat. Sorry."

Vic said the boat owner, who he would not identify, is upset at the loss.

"His wife loved that boat," Vic said.

Michael Paulhus, Executive Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor, said there was no preliminary indication of what had started the blaze. The boats were supplied electricity by an extension cord running behind them, he said.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)