BURNING BOATS MONTH CONTINUES, this time on Lake Powell in southern Utah.  A remote marina on the National Park Service property, Halls Crossing Marina keeps about 150 pleasure craft moored there, most of them houseboats and cruisers.

Late Thursday night, about 11:30 pm, fire broke out on one of the boats tied up in a slip that has a roof over it.  A combination of the long roof and winds coming off the lake spread the fire rapidly.  A rapid response by the local fire department and National Park Service personnel was able to keep the fire spreading beyond 20 craft.  They cut the mooring lines of the boats that were on fire so they drifted away from the docks.  They also set up a “fire break” of sorts by cutting loose some boats ahead of the flame spread.

Altogether there were 3 to 5  million dollars in losses suffered and the park personnel said that they couldn’t think of any fire at the marina that was as large as this one.

Fire investigators were on the scene all day Friday and Saturday trying to recreate the fire story on dry land.  They feel they are closing in on the area of origin, but say that the investigation will continue for as much as two weeks.

The Salt Lake Tribune has the early story and the follow-up story HERE and HERE.

KSTU-TV Salt Lake City has this video report:

A WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA MAN DIED WEDNESDAY evening in a fire at his home in Arnold, Westmoreland County.  It was disclosed yesterday by the State Police that the man was in his basement, working on his motorcycle, and smoking a cigarette.

The accumulated gasoline fumes ignited explosively, starting a fire and killing Thomas Nass, 21.  Several neighbors attempted to put the fire out with buckets of water, but were unable to get into the basement to save Nass.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has the early story on the fire HERE.
The AP has the fire marshal’s updated report HERE.

A FIRE IN AN UNLICENSED DAY-CARE CENTER IN ALAMO, TENNESSEE, Wednesday injured 3 children who were unattended in the building, along with an off-duty police officer and an unidentified adult.

Alamo Assistant Police Chief Kevin Sugg was off-duty and happened to be driving by the facility when he saw smoke coming from the building.  He immediately radioed to dispatch for the FD and went to the fire.  Crawling into the school, he found one child and brought it out side and then went back in where he found two more children.  All of them were 4 yrs. of age or younger.

WPTY Ch. 24 Memphis has a good video report:

Chief Sugg said that there were no adults in the building when he arrived.  There is a house on the property that is separate from the day care unit.  A detailed story of his rescue and the fire is told by the Jackson Sun HERE.

 The facility, formerly known as the Heavenly Angels Day Care Center, had its license suspended back in October following the SIDS death of an infant that was unattended at the time.  In Tennessee a license is not required for taking care of 4 or fewer children that are not related, but this facility has been caught since then taking care of 5 or more.

The Tennessee Dept. of Human Services reported that the center’s owner has been in trouble since August:

ANOTHER HOME CHEMIST IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA, ended up in the burn unit Wednesday afternoon when his cottage business blew up in his face.

Once again, Tulsa firefighters were called to a working house fire that turned out to be loaded with unstable chemicals that put the entire area at risk.  Much like a fire they ran in October (Firegeezer report HERE) they arrived to find a fire in the attic and a report that the resident had fled the scene before they showed up.

The fire was handled easily, but it was several hours before they haz-mat crew was able to leave.  The resident was finally located later when he turned himself in to the hospital suffering from burns.

KOKI-TV has the video report:

A BENTON CITY, WASHINGTON, MAN DIED LAST WEEK when he succumbed to a fire that he had set.  Police believe that James Kaiser, 43, had broken into a parked motorhome and had set the fire in it to coverup a burglary that he had just committed.

The clues were a broken back window and a pile of valuables such as a dvd player stacked up by the doorway.  Even though he was burned, the actual cause of death has not yet been determined by the county coroner.

The Tri-City Herald has the full STORY.

A 3-ALARM FIRE IN ALTON, ILLINOIS, REQUIRED A RECALL OF off-duty firefighters early Monday morning.  The fire swept through the Riverbend Billiards and Grill recreational center during sub-freezing temperatures.

Alton Telegraph photo

The Alton FD called on mutial aid assistance from several surrounding  towns and had to rotate the FF’s on the lines every 20 minutes because of the cold weather with tempertures around 15 degrees.

The Alton Telegraph reports:

“When we got here, firefighters tried to make an interior attack, but things worsened on us, and we had to go to a defensive attack,” Assistant Chief Brad Sweetman said.

Sweetman said the fire had been burning for some time before firefighters arrived at the scene, hindering their chances of being able to knock out the blaze.

“The fire was up high in the ceiling, and that hampered an interior attack,” he said.

Sweetman said when it appeared that firefighters were making no headway against the blaze, he called for an evacuation. He said he felt the building no longer was safe after a portion of the ceiling collapsed, and he didn’t want to put firefighters lives’ at risk unnecessarily.

The FD was very concerned with two exposures, but they managed to protect them.

Fox News image

The popular lunchroom was known for its $1 hamburgers and the owner has already said that he will try to find a new site and reopen the eatery and night spot.  The building that started life as an A & P Supermarket was completely destroyed by the blaze.  The cause of the fire is still undetermined.

The Alton Telegraph has the full STORY.

KMOV-TV has this video report:

A CHAIN-REACTION COLLISION OF FIVE TRACTOR-TRAILERS on I-40 in New Mexico Sunday afternoon ended up with one truck burned up and two people taken to the hospital.

The trucks were traveling through a construction zone on an icy roadway with high winds when four of them started rear-ending each other.  The fifth truck skidded off into the ditch to avoid colliding with the others.

One of the trucks’ cab became wedged under the trailer in front of it and severed a fuel line that started a fire with the two drivers trapped inside.  Two New Mexico State Highway Patrol officers arrived on the scene quickly and, taking some fire extinguishers, knocked the fire back sufficiently to pull the two drivers out of the smashed cab.  Neither of them were seriously injured and none of the other truck drivers reported any injuries.

KRQE Ch. 13 Albuquerque has the video report:

THE TAYLOR OIL COMPANY IN ZIONSVILLE, INDIANA, suffered a major loss Sunday when their primary storage building burned down.

Indianapolis Star photo

The building was used to store 55-gal. drums of motor oil and lubricants along with storage of used oil.  One of the Taylors had driven by the shop which is closed on the weekends, around 11:30 am and saw nothing wrong.  About an hour later the fire call came in and the first-arriving companies found fire showing from the 5,000 sq. ft. building.

Calling for extra help brought 75 firefighters to the scene and they managed to contain the fire to the storage building and had it put out in two hours.  A large effort went toward scraping out containment trenches to keep the oils from being carried off by the water being discharged by the fire nozzles.  A nearby excavating company also brought in two backhoes to dig trenches.

The building contained about 6,000 gals. of petroleum products.  Three trucks, including an empty tanker, were also destroyed by the blaze.  While they believe that the fire started in a shop area where the trucks are maintained, investigators are still on the scene trying to determine the cause.

The family-owned and operated business has been operating for 60 years and is back in business today.

The Indianapolis Star has the STORY.
WRTV Ch. 6 has this video report: