Charlotte County residents speak out about the Riviera Marina boat fire on Friday

The Riviera Marina boat fire in Charlotte County on Friday has residents saying they aren’t surprised about the fire.

Karla Sanders, a regular at Riviera Bar & Grill said, “It doesn’t surprise me because the boats are so close.”

Sanders said she’s glad no one is hurt.

“That’s more important than a boat because you can replace that, but not a life,” Sanders said.

Today the U.S. Coast Guard was on scene securing discharge while removing fuel from the water.

Tammy Martin lives nearby and heard the explosion from her home.

“I heard a kaboom. But I didn’t think it was the boats here, I just didn’t, it didn’t dawn on me it was so close to home,” Martin said.

Martin said she also saw the smoke from the fire from her home.

“This fire comes as no surprise because the marina is filled with so many boats close together,” Martin said.

Below is an apple map view of the marina, it shows the boats bunched up near the center.

“The county should have been on this long time ago. A long time ago, this wouldn’t have happened,” Martin said.

Charlotte county fire said it could take weeks to determine how the fire started.