30-foot camper goes up in flames on Sandy Neck Beach

WEST BARNSTABLE — A 30-foot camper was engulfed in flames on Sandy Neck Beach Wednesday.

At approximately 9 a.m., the West Barnstable Fire Department responded to a call of a fire at Sandy Neck Beach, West Barnstable Fire Chief Joe Maruca said.

Seventeen firefighters in two off-road fire trucks, two fire tankers and an ambulance responded to the scene, where the RV was already fully enveloped in flames, Maruca said.

The Cotuit Fire Department covered West Barnstable while the department responded to the fire.

"You could see the smoke from 6A this thing was burning so hard," Maruca said.

RV owner escaped unharmed

Due to the camper's location down the beach, responders had to drag 1,000 feet of firehose across Sandy Neck to reach the fire, where firefighters put out the flames quickly, according to Maruca, no easy feat in the heat of the morning.

"The problem with this is the heat," he said. "That's one of the reasons we had extra staff and an ambulance."

Paul Henrich of East Falmouth, the owner of the camper, was the only occupant inside when the fire started. He got out safely without injury, but declined to comment on how the fire started.

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Maruca said the cause is under investigation, but appears to have been a mechanical issue.

"We don't see stuff like this a lot, but we train for it and practice for it," he said. "We do a training exercise with Sandy Neck beach staff for this kind of situation. We have a plan."

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Fire destroys RV on Cape Cod beach