Port Orchard Yacht Club fire

Status updates

March 23, 2016

Water conditions continue to improve in the yacht club marina. Cleanup activity is starting to wind down.

The crane barge has completed the removal of large pieces of wreckage, and cleanup crews have removed most other floating fire debris. Crews are flushing oil and debris from boathouses near the berths that burned. About 60 cubic feet of debris and oil spill cleanup materials has been collected.

Oil spill containment boom around the moorage area has been repositioned to enclose a smaller area. Boom placed Sunday at the mouths of two nearby creeks is now fully removed.

Estimated cost through today of cleanup operations is $235,000.

Operations will continue through today’s daylight hours and resume at first light Thursday morning.

 March 22, 2016

Cleanup work continues today. Crews are removing more floating debris from the marina area. The crane barge Prudhoe Bay is removing large pieces of wreckage from the three most-damaged of the six berths that burned.

Fire investigators are inspecting pieces of wreckage, and the removal process is proceeding one berth at a time.

Meanwhile, spill cleanup crews have collected 125 gallons of diesel fuel from one of the sunken boats. Two others checked by divers had released unknown amounts of fuel. Two others remain covered by wreckage.

Crews also have collected 40 cubic yards of oiled cleanup materials and debris, plus 250 gallons of oily water. The crane barge is holding additional material.

Coast Guard helicopter flights show that the spill containment boom around the marina is confining most of the oil. A sheen that extends north toward Sinclair Inlet is from a small amount of product which is unrecoverable and is expected to dissipate with the sunlight.

Another flight is scheduled for this afternoon.

Ecology and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife teams continued to assess wildlife and other environmental impacts. No oiled wildlife has been seen or reported.

Operations will continue through today’s daylight hours and resume at first light Wednesday morning.

Responders removed the major debris from the last of the six burned slips, and divers could check on the last two sunken vessels. As expected, given the amount of time the boats could not be accessed, there was no fuel left aboard.

Based on information about the amount of fuel aboard each vessel, the unified command has estimated fuel releases at 815 gallons of diesel from four of the boats, and 62.5 gallons of gasoline from the fifth. Also, 20 pounds of propane was believed released.

Divers earlier recovered 125 gallons of diesel from one vessel.

The response cost is expected to reach $180,000 by the end of today. The federal oil spill liability trust fund is being used to enable a rapid, effective and coordinated response.

The yacht club, vessel owners and their insurers are fully cooperating and are expected to reimburse the public fund after all costs are tabulated.

People can expect to see less oil spill containment boom in the area over the coming days. The unified command has authorized the removal of boom set up at Ross Creek and Black Jack Creek on Sunday. The containment area around the yacht club also will be reduced.

No reports of oiled wildlife have been received.

Cleanup and investigation activity will continue through today’s daylight hours and will resume Wednesday at daybreak.

March 21, 2016

More than 30 people continue the response to yesterday morning’s fire and oil spill. Efforts today continue to focus on oil and fire debris from the marina area, which remains enclosed by a 3,000 foot line of oil spill containment boom.

The fire damaged or destroyed six covered moorages, but confirmation has arrived that one of the vessels was not in the marina, leaving five sunken vessels.

A crane barge is schedule to arrive this afternoon. It will be used to dismantle two of the burnt boathouses, in conjunction with the fire investigation. Once this debris is removed and it is safe for diving, divers will inspect three sunken vessels. They will determine how much fuel and other oil is aboard and will attempt to cap or remove the fuel.

Yesterday, divers checked the two other vessels and were able to remove fuel from one of them. The amount of fuel released into the water is not known. The potential maximum release is approximately 2,000 gallons.

The response agencies and representatives of Port Orchard Yacht Club are coordinating the cleanup and investigation under a unified command. The command’s agency members are the U.S. Coast Guard, South Kitsap Fire and Rescue, the Kitsap County Fire Marshal and Ecology. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) also is participating in the response. The command oversees the contractors hired to conduct cleanup operations.

There have been no reports of oiled wildlife. Ecology and WDFW are conducting assessments in the area to determine the extent of the spill’s environmental effects.

The crane barge Prudhoe Bay arrived this afternoon to begin lifting large debris from the boathouse wreckage. Fire investigators will examine the pieces. The wreckage covers three of the five sunken vessels. Removal of the debris will clear the way for divers to examine the boats and remove any fuel still on board.

Within the 3,000 feet of oil spill containment boom that surrounds the yacht club marina, crews worked to remove enough fire debris to allow skimmers to operate. Workers used oil spill cleanup pads and other techniques in the meantime.

Ecology and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife teams continued to assess wildlife and other environmental impacts. No oiled wildlife has been seen or reported.

Operations will continue through today’s daylight hours and resume at first light Tuesday morning.

March 20, 2016

Ecology and the US Coast Guard are responding to a boat fire at the Port Orchard Yacht Club that was reported about about 4 a.m. At least one boat sank, releasing approximately 3,000 gallons of oil into the water.

Response contractors are on scene along with the South Kitsap Fire Rescue and 4,000 feet of boom has been deployed.

The cause of the fire (which is now extinguished) is currently unknown and we will continue to provide details as we receive them.

Currently contractors are diving to assess the fuel tanks of six sunken yachts. Once evaluated they will plug the tanks or offload fuel as necessary.

The entire yacht club is contained by boom and protecting Black Jack Creek. Crews are also deploying boom at a nearby salt marsh.

A flight this morning showed 0.13 square miles of impacted area with a sheen 2.12 square miles long. Based on the capacity of all the fuel tanks, 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel is the maximum potential for releasing to water.

Responders were able to access oil-spill response equipment from an Ecology equipment cache staged at nearby Port Orchard Marina. That helped launch a rapid, aggressive and well-coordinated response.

The USCG opened the oil spill liability fund to pay for the cleanup.

The Ecology mobile command unit is on site and housing the incident command (state, federal and local agencies coordinating to cleanup the water and associated diesel fuel spill) team.

The team will begin to pump off fuel from vessels today, and anticipates it will take all day tomorrow to remove debris from water.

Skimming and use the use of absorbent pads will continue through the night.

Currently 3,000 ft of boom has been deployed and another 2,000 ft is on its way.

No oiled birds or wildlife has been reported and the public is asked to call 425-649-7000 if any are observed.