Even if their crews aren’t aboard, boat fires can pose a serious risk to sea users and the environment – a challenge that volunteers in Devon faced twice in 5 days

The African Queen is one of the best known vessels on the River Dart: a wooden charter boat that provided a home and livelihood for her owners, Alan and Hilary Hemsley. So imagine their horror when, on 10 March, they came back to the harbour after an evening on shore to see smoke rising from the boat’s funnel. They quickly raised the alarm and went aboard to throw gas cylinders and flares overboard. But the fire took hold at lightning speed.

Dart inshore lifeboat crew received the call at 11.35pm and arrived within minutes. They were relieved to see that the owners were not aboard – they had escaped onto a nearby pontoon. Helmsman Buster Hart and the crew took Alan and Hilary to the Darthaven Marina, then returned to the scene with four members of Brixham fire crew. The firefighters set up hoses on the Lower Ferry and a Dart Harbour Authority craft to tackle the fire, but it still burned fiercely. The blaze was so intense that, within half an hour, the African Queen was gutted to the deck line.

The Dart crew’s fellow lifeboat volunteers from neighbouring Torbay arrived with their all-weather lifeboat, bringing more firefighters to the scene. The Torbay crew also used their own lifeboat fire hoses to try to prevent the fire causing further damage. But it was to no avail – and now the boat was so full of water that she was in danger of sinking, potentially causing a pollution problem.

The only solution was to pump out some of the water, so the Dart harbour vessel Hercules brought the African Queen to the quayside. Torbay lifeboat illuminated the scene and the fire and lifeboat crews worked with harbour authority workers to stabilise the boat, with the help of a pump from Dart Lifeboat Station. The lifeboat volunteers then stood-by as safety cover, while the fire was eventually put out by the fire crews with the help of foam. Since then, the local community has rallied round to help Alan and Hilary, who were left without their home and income.

It was not the last time Dart lifeboat crew would be called to a boat fire that week. Five nights later, they received a call to a fire onboard an 8m motorboat moored in the harbour. The owners, aboard the boat with their dog when they raised the alarm, tried to fight the fire but couldn’t extinguish it. They escaped in their own tender, suffering from smoke inhalation but otherwise unharmed. Their boat was dangerously close to other craft though.

So Dart inshore lifeboat crew launched with a fire commander to assess the scene. Again the Lower Ferry brought a fire appliance to the scene. The lifeboat took two firemen, with their hose running from the appliance, as close to the burning boat as safely possible.

The fire burnt through Blue Storm’s mooring lines and she drifted aground at a safe distance from other boats. When the fire crews eventually put out the blaze, two lifeboat crew members waded through the mud and secured her to the shore: another boat made safe thanks to good teamwork between the RNLI and other agencies.

Hugh Fogarty, RNLI Head of Operations (Operational Support), says: 'The principal concern for lifeboat crews is for the safety of people first. RNLI lifeboats are not designed for firefighting and inshore lifeboats are particularly vulnerable. Involvement in services such as these is fortunately rare but requires careful judgement by those involved to keep themselves and their crew clear of danger.