Burnt Boats in Hayling Island Marina

Four burnt boats have been left after a fire at a Hayling Island Marina. We were informed by the local dive teams in Portsmouth who have been asked to help raise two of the burnt boats that had sunk.

Burnt boats are a fairly common for us to deal with. Because when burnt boats are surveyed after the incident they are almost always written off instead of being repaired.

It’s not only old end of life boats that we have to deal with. Sometimes in the event of an accident a perfectly well kept boat can become a write off. Whether it being from a collision, sinking or in this case a fire. Fire is probably the single most effective boat breaker in the world. Once a fire catches hold on a GRP boat there isn’t usually much left after. In burnt boats it returns the GRP back to a flimsy base state of glass strands.

When a fire catches hold in a marina it can lead to a disaster. As with so many boats attached to wooden pontoons there is plenty of fuel to burn. Especially as some boats may have petrol, gas or oil on board. Added to this that people may be inside the boats whilst this is happening it’s a nightmare situation.

In the recent fire at Sparkes Marina in Hayling Island the local fire crews acted fast to limit the damage. As you can see from the pictures that were circulated on the Fire and Rescue’s social media the fire crews did a fantastic job. As a result of their efforts, only two burnt boats ended up sinking and a further two were damaged.

Thank you to Steve Buchanan-Lee for letting us use the fantastic photo of the fire crews in action. Steve is a fire officer at Hampshire Fire & Rescue. You can follow him on Twitter: @S0_41

If you have a burnt boat to dispose of we can help. Just fill out our Scrap Calculator.