82-foot yacht catches fire in Miami

MIAMI – City of Miami firefighters extinguished a large blaze that erupted Sunday afternoon aboard an 82-foot yacht.

According to Lt. Pete Sanchez, the department received multiple calls about the fire around 10:50 am

Firefighters responded to Merrill-Stevens Yachts, located at 881 NW 13th Ave., where they found the Vision F2 yacht fully engulfed in flames.

“Firefighters extended hose lines into the covered structure and found multiple yachts in the water near the vessel of origin,” Sanchez said in an email to Local 10 News. “They encountered very low visibility because of the billowing smoke and due to the complexity of the incident a second alarm was requested.”

Sanchez told the Hazardous Materials Team and a fireboat conducted a foam operation to extinguish the flames.

He said no one was on board the yacht when the fire erupted.

“Other crews assisted with removing the surrounding yachts out of the area to limit exposure,” Sanchez said. “Within an hour the fire was under control and all exposures were protected from sustaining any damage.”

According to Sanchez, more than 34 units and over 100 firefighters assisted in the operation.

He said “the National State Warning Point was notified to conduct an assessment as to what spill off may have occurred into the water.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.