Fire in the Port Sidney Marina

Firefighters Work to Extinguish Sidney FIre Jason Gibbs

Feb 14, 2019

Sidney Fire Chief Brett Mikkelsen said crews were called to the Port Sidney Marina around 2:45 p.m. on Saturday February 9th, for reports of a boat on fire.

Firefighters work to extinguish a yacht fire in Sidney. – Photo by Jason Gibbs

“It was quite evident when we were responding from about a kilometre or two away that there was a large, black vertical column of smoke, so it was well, well underway,” he said.

About 20 firefighters used a special marina firefighting trailer that is kept on site to tackle the flames from the dock.

Sidney Marina Fire By Linda BennettSidney Marina Fire – Photo by Linda Bennett

“The 50-foot yacht was completely destroyed and sank, but crews were able to prevent the fire from spreading, though one neighbouring boat was damaged.” Mikkelsen said.

“Plastics, resins, vinyl, they’re all very volatile and burn very well. Once the boat gets considerably burned, you get into all kinds of fuel sources, everything from gas to diesel to propane. Then on top of that, we were dealing with winds consistently of 20 knots with gusts of up to 30 knots,”

Despite high winds under difficult circumstances, firefighters were able to extinguish the yacht fire

Mikkelsen said because the boat sank it will be some time before investigators can determine how the fire broke out.

However, he said despite no one being on the vessel at the time, the cause is not necessarily suspicious.

“These are the times of year when the electrical load on these vessels come under stress with people turning on heaters and the like. So that’s a possibility we have dealt with that in the past.”

Video Gallery

Neptunus 650F Review

Neptunus 650F 400

By Andy Adams

Over the years Canadian Yachting has had the pleasure of doing several boat review articles on new Neptunus models and we are familiar with the qualities that Neptunus is famous for. They have all been exceptional yachts, but this is the one I would most want to own myself. It’s a personal choice and a matter of taste as to whether you would prefer to have a sedan express model or a flybridge but in my opinion, the flybridge layout offers some wonderful attributes.

We met with Neptunus Managing Director Jan Willem De Jong this past fall to take the new Neptunus 650F out in Lake Ontario. 

Read More

Destinations

The Other Virgin Islands

Sunset off St John

By Mark Stevens

I was first seduced by the United States Virgin Islands during a ferry ride from St. Thomas to Tortola to begin one of our earliest British Virgin Islands charters nearly twenty years ago.

A perfect sunset off St. John with St. Thomas views for backdrop.

Clearing Pillsbury Sound, surrounded by voluptuous emerald mountains as the ferry sliced through royal blue waters, I was struck by the unspoiled ambiance of St. John, the island gliding past our starboard beam and the irresistible charm of a village called Cruz Bay visible from our quarter stern.

Read More

Lifestyle