Boat explosion leaves over 7 boats on fire in Punta Gorda

Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department responded to a call about a boat being on fire in the Riveria Marina.

According to Charlotte County Fire Department, the fire spread from one to as many as nine boats.

Todd Dunn with Charlotte County Fire said as we got on the scene, we noticed there was multiple boats on fire.

A hundred feet from his dock along the Riviera Marina in Charlotte County, Craig Langway was able to watch it all happen.

“We heard an explosion from in the house a boom. We didn’t know really what it was. Went out to the dock. Big plume of black smoke probably 100 or so feet in the air,” Langway said.

No one was hurt and there’s no clear answer as to why the boats caught fire, but witnesses said they have a pretty good idea.

“They’re all bunched in there. There’s no real slips. So ones next to the other and it’s, you know, it’s like five boats. Attach to one boat,” Langway said.

Steve Pfaff, a regular a the Riveria Marina said they get derelict boats and nobody claims them anymore. They sink and then the state of Florida has a hard time trying to figure out who owns them or removing them.

“I’m not really a boatsman. But I would say maybe decluttering would be, you know, how active that marina is, I would have no idea. I live on the other side. I’ve got friends that live around here. And they frequently come here by boat. I don’t know what their experiences is like,” Pfaff said.

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