(Okoboji)– Fire heavily damaged a boat Sunday morning at the gas dock at Mau Marine in Okoboji. Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire Chief Chris Yungbluth tells KUOO news they were called to the scene around 11:46 am…
“When we arrived on the scene we had a larger cabin cruiser boat tied off to the dock there that was still smoking but the majority of the fire had been extinguished prior to our arrival. It sounds like some employees hit it pretty good with a fire extinguisher before we arrived. We did access to the area where the fire was and were able to get the rest of the smoldering fire put out and then we stayed on the scene until the boat was pulled from the water and made sure the fire was completely extinguished.”
Yungbluth says there were people on board the boat at the time…
“There were and they were able to evacuate safely. We had a real minor smoke inhalation. One of the employees that had used the fire extinguisher said he thought he took in some smoke. He was evaluated on the scene and denied any further medical needs.”
The cause is believed to have been mechanical…
“The boat owner reported that he had been having trouble with the boat starting and so we do know that it was mechanical we’re just not exactly sure what mechanically went wrong.”
Firefighters were on the scene about an hour.
