Ice Breaker Party

Jeremy and Karen have sent out a reminder to everyone abou the “Ice Breaker” Party. From Jeremy: "We will begin our third season by inviting you to our annual ice-breaker party on March 24, 2010 at Mac’s Time Out Lounge, located at 315 Belle Street in downtown Alton. We will start at 6:30 P.M. We have some updates to discuss and will be serving beverages, food, stories, smiles and margaritas (maybe not exactly in that order). We look forward to seeing all of you there! Please RSVP to let us know that you are coming, so that we can have enough of everything on hand!"  RSVP by calling the office at 618-462-9860 or contact the marina directly through their website at www.altonmarina.com. In related news, Kelsie will be there modeling the latest in grass and coconut "clothing."  This photo was taken at last year's party!

 

Green Turtle Bay Marina fire, 09-12-09

Written by Webmaster

Friday, 25 September 2009

Brad, Just read this email from one of our friends from Sunset. They passed through here on their boat heading south about two weeks ago. Kathy sent us this. Really scarey. Thought you might want to share. Green Turtle Bay is a lovely marina near Paducah KY. We kept our boat there for a month this summer so our grandkids and great niece could enjoy the facilities. It's sad to think how quickly a tragedy of this magnitude can develop. The couple were on an extended trip from Tennessee. Sadly, neither of them survived. NOW...May be a good time to re-think the emergency response policies, wherever your boat is docked. October is "Fire Prevention Month". Green Turtle Bay Marina boat explosion and fire, 09-12-09 An older model 25 foot or so cabin cruiser named “Therapy” finishes fueling and begins to move away from the fuel dock. Husband and wife on board. Something’s not right, engine misfired, husband goes down into the cabin, wife at the helm. Explosion. 911 contacted . Flames engulf the cabin. Black smoke. Woman screams and dock hands start yelling for her to jump into the water. The boat is blown by the wind further from the fuel dock. Flames and smoke engulf her as she jumps into the water, no life jacket. Dockhand jumps in the water and swims to her and a dingy arrives with a life jacket. Marina manager, Bill Gary, dives into the water. Either Bill or the dockhand (can’t tell from our vantage point) starts climbing the swim platform to get the husband when the entire boat in one loud swoosh becomes engulfed in flames, he jumps back into the water. Husband is still on board and is presumed dead. He never reappears. Dingy driver gets woman out of the water and back on the fuel dock. Towboat US races to the boat, she’s being blown into a dock full of sailboats. Towboat US able to deflect the burning boat towards empty slips at the shipyard. Towboat US turns to get a line on the burning vessel, line gets tangled in his props. Towboat captain jumps in the water to untangle his props, two other dinghies hold the towboat out of the flames. The burning vessel comes to rest against the empty docks and sets them on fire. Towboat US gets a line on the boat and is going to tow it to the boat ramp . He has to round the end of a long dock. Black plumes of smoke now coming from the end of the dock. Something’s wrong. Somehow, Towboat US lost the burning boat (rope burned through) and it drifted into the back of a large houseboat with a Sea Doo and small outboard boat on back, both are now engulfed in flames. Towboat US boat is now on fire and begins drifting into the dock full of boats. Some larger boats were able to throw off their lines and back into the fairway as the burning towboat drifts toward their slips. EMS and Fire personnel have arrived. Not enough hose to reach the end of the pier where the houseboat is docked. Houseboat owner backs his now burning houseboat out into the fairway to get the flames away from neighboring boats. He wedges the bow into the slip so he doesn’t drift away and help can reach him. Smart move. FD dragging fire hose along with several volunteers down the dock. Run out of hose. Black plumes of smoke make it difficult to see and breathe. Fire extinguishers a re carryed to the houseboat. Handed boat owner one, he turned and dropped it into the water. Hand him the other and retrieved the one in the water and hand it to him. He goes to fight the fire, but that type fire extinguisher won’t extinguish this class of fire. More fire trucks arrive. Hoses have holes, can’t get enough water pressure. Sections of hose are being replaced. Fire extinguishers holding the flames down enough for them to extinguish the l arger hot spots. No water yet from the fire trucks. Firemen grab garden hoses. We fight the fire. Small boat with two men onboard comes up to the Towboat and the guy on the front throws an anchor on the towboat and pulls it away from the docks, she’s still burning. They hand the lines to the rescue boat that just arrived and they pull the Towboat toward the boat ramp. Got to get the burning small boats off the houseboat now. Flames are larger and smoke is getting thick. The Sea doo and small boat are secured to the houseboat with a cable. Fire is too hot. He can’t get close to the lock. He can’t cut them loose, he has no bolt cutters. The call goes out for bolt cutters and a lady in a neighboring boat comes back with hers hands them up to the houseboat owner. The Sea doo drifts free and now the small outboard boat drifts free, both on fire. Rescue boat grapples the Sea doo and begin pulling it backward and it sinks leaving a massive sheet of flames covering the water. We’re out of fire extinguishers. Another Samaritan tows the small craft out the way. When they got it to the boat ramp dock the found the fire extinguisher on the small boat and put out the fire. Firemen on the dock have run out of extinguishers, none. Burning boats coming in – not good. Towboat slips under the pier. Towboat is pushed out from the wooden pier. Fire is out. Smoldering. Firemen and volunteers push and pull the Towboat to the shallow water opposite the pier. A man lost his life today, a woman lost her husband. It is somewhat scary to think what could have happened if the houseboat owner, didn’t risk his life to get those burning vessels away from the dock. What would have happened if the Towboat US Captain hadn’t come to the rescue and in the end sacrificed his own vessel? What would have happened if the dinghy skippers hadn’t come to the rescue of the lady in the water and of the towboat? What would have happened if the staff and bystanders hadn’t taken action to help? People here all pitched in, worked together, and prevented what could have been a much larger tragedy.

 

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