{"id":59954,"date":"2020-01-28T09:28:57","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T01:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=59954"},"modified":"2020-01-28T09:28:59","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T01:28:59","slug":"us-eight-dead-in-boat-dock-fire-fire-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=59954","title":{"rendered":"US: Eight dead in boat dock fire – fire chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Fire<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MIAMI, Jan 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Eight people were killed in a late night
fire that swept through docked boats on a lake in the southern US state of
Alabama, the local fire chief said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt this point, I can confirm eight fatalities,\u201d said Gene Necklaus, the
fire chief of Scottsboro, Alabama, a small town on the banks of Guntersville
Lake where the blaze broke out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The explosive fire consumed at least 35 vessels docked along the Tennessee River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Necklaus said all eight people who were known to be missing have been confirmed dead, and \u201cthat number could go up, because we don\u2019t know how many were on boats\u201d that sank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire began just after midnight and quickly consumed the dock as people were sleeping. The wooden dock went up in flames and an aluminum roof that covered many of the vessels melted and collapsed, cutting off escape routes and raining debris over the area as boaters leaped into the river. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least seven people were sent to hospitals suffering from exposure to the flames or the frigid water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Necklaus said about 35 boats were destroyed, some of them sinking at the dock and others floating away before going under. He said divers need to locate each one and search them individually to be sure there were no other victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe woke up hearing screams and popping noises,\u201d Mandy Durham, who was with her boyfriend in a nearby boat, said. \u201cWhen we woke up, we could see red through the window.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithin 15 to 20 minutes, the whole dock was in flames,\u201d she added. \u201cAll these boats have propane tanks and gas tanks, and that\u2019s a lot of fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The blaze destroyed the B dock, about 46 meters from the A dock where the boat of Durham\u2019s boyfriend was moored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were numerous people rescued from the water who had escaped by going into the water,\u201d Jackson County Chief Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Rocky Harnen said shortly after dawn. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get divers down here to search for possible victims.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reaching the victims proved challenging for rescue crews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe damage from the dock has fallen on top of the boats, and some of the boats have drifted off,\u201d Harnen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hours after sunrise, smoke was still rising from the remains of a wooden dock, and pieces of metal that once formed the roof were partially submerged. Police and fire boats with flashing lights were positioned near the charred remains, and a yellow floating boom was being deployed around the marina to contain spilled fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the boats that were destroyed had people living on them permanently, but some mainly spent weekends on them. The park includes a boat ramp, a dock and a restaurant, and offers boat rentals, according to Jackson County\u2019s government website. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MIAMI, Jan 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Eight people were killed in a late nightfire that swept through docked boats on a lake in the southern US state ofAlabama, the local fire chief said Monday. \u201cAt this point, I can confirm eight fatalities,\u201d said Gene Necklaus, thefire chief of Scottsboro, Alabama, a small town on the banks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59954"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}