Yacht damaged when small boat catches fire at Fort Lauderdale marina

Smoke and the sound of sirens filled the air Sunday after a 20-foot boat caught fire just before 11 a.m. at the Bahia Mar marina in Fort Lauderdale.

Nearly 20 firefighters were called to battle the blaze at the Bahia Mar marina at 801 Seabreeze Blvd., Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan said.

Someone might have been gassing up the boat when it caught fire.

“It was taking on fuel at the time, I believe,” Gollan said. “I don’t know that for sure. But it was on the fuel dock.”

The blazing boat washed up against a 200-foot yacht, causing damage to the bow, Gollan said.

Chad McCoury, who lives less than a mile north, knew something was amiss when he heard the shrill sound of sirens passing by his fifth-floor condo.

“There were tons of fire trucks going by,” he said. “Then I looked out and saw the billowing smoke.”

His cat had been napping on the balcony but came racing back into the house as the firetrucks whizzed by.

“I assumed seeing all the black smoke and where it was coming from that it was a boat,” McCoury said. “I could even smell it.”

It was the second fire of the day for the Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue Department.

“We had a house fire this morning,” Gollan said.

The fire broke out around 8 a.m. at a house in the 800 block of Northeast 17 Court.

A cat inside the house died.

No one else was injured but the house was totaled, Gollan said.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan