KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
A fire Monday night in Saint Paul Harbor downtown heavily damaged a 30-foot wooden fishing boat. The stove inside the fishing vessel Mo-Ann apparently caused the fire around 10:30 p.m. Harbormaster office records indicate the Mo-Ann is owned by Ken Murphy.
According to Kodiak Fire Department Firefighter Frank Dorner, bystanders did a good job keeping the fire from spreading.
— (Mo Ann 1 39 sec "It was a small, 30-foot … which was a great help."
Several fire engines and other emergency vehicles responded to the call. Dorner said boat fires in harbors can be especially dangerous, given the proximity of boats to each other.
— (Mo Ann 2 23 sec "You know, the amount of fuel … in case it was needed.")
Dorner said the harbor is equipped with a standpipe, which allows the fire trucks to pump water from the street.
— (Mo Ann 3 24 sec "When we arrived on scene … whole lot of water on the boat.")
The harbors are also equipped with pumps that can draw directly from seawater if the standpipe grid fails for some reason.
Dorner said the harbor patrol boat responded with a de-watering pump to keep the Mo Ann from sinking while the fire was being put out.
He said he estimates that 60- to 70-percent of the cabin of the Mo Ann was destroyed by the fire, but the engine room and hull suffered little if any damage.
The Mo Ann is the former fishing vessel Sarah Bess, which spent years tied up at the transient boat dock in the channel. A picture of it ran with the "Scuttlebutt" column in Friday’s Kodiak Daily Mirror.
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