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Some people act fast, good seamanship. Hope he is OK.The burning boat then drifted to a nearby dock and damaged other boats before being towed away by a third worker from a separate dock, police said.
The worker who towed the boat away had some burns to his arms and face.
Was that diesel or gas being fueled?Refueling is so taken for granted. Sail boat(30 ft) refuels at Victoria fuel dock. Bursts into flames. Owner standing there. Dock employee (kid on a summer job) asks if there's any body on board. "Yes ,my two kids" Kids rushes thru the flames and pulls out the children. Some burns to all but dad and boat destroyed.
Diesel isn't volatile like gasoline - but trust me, it will burn without compression. We burned diesel in our caboose oil stoves. Toss a burning paper into the oil pooled in the bottom.....fire in the hole. With the right fuel/air mix, it burns very hot.Diesel doesn't normally burn unless compressed (or super hot, I'd bet). There was a Myth Busters episode where they couldn't ignite diesel with a blowtorch. Very educational.
Regards,
Brad
All deaths are treated as a homicide, until proven otherwise. Even if everything points to an accident the default position of the investigators will be to initially investigate it as a homicide....They're treating it as a homicide, maybe for good reason? Could be gasoline, propane or C-4.
We are on our trip to the LISound from the Chesapeake an. H had taken a free mooring in Port Washington the day before this happened. We could see the gas dock at Manor Haven from there and were real close to it when we were at the. North Hempstead north dock where we had gone to go to the Shop and Stop to get some fresh provisions. The news here pictures were of a smaller PB engulfed in flames. Some thoughtful PB threw is anchor on the boat and pulled it away from the dock and other boats. The fire department boat was impressive. They were getting gasoline.My guess is propane...
This stuff is the most dangerous you have on a boat...
It is heavier than air and accumulates in the bilges without you noticing it... A spark from any electrical instrument or wiring is then enough to ignite it and BOOM goes the boat...
That is one reason why the propane tank is always turned off on any boat i am. Somebody wants to cook something on the stove, the propane tank needs to be turned on and after finishing with cooking the tank is turned off, the flame goes out on the stove and only then the stove is turned off...
That way you make sure that nothing of the gas is anywhere but inside the propane tank which is located astern in a locker which blows out in case of any accidents without harming the people on the boat...
We used to do a demo for students where we dropped lit matches into a bowl of petrol. The matches go out.They say you could drop a lighted match down your diesel fill port and it will go out without exploding; however, I'm not willing to test the theory.
OK, I did the quick google search, and the only examples I found involved elevated temperatures....BTW Diesel tanks can and do explode and kill people, both welding and grinding are ignition sources. A quick google will find many reports of accidents, which are often fatal.