WPRO News
Fire crews were on scene at Pearse Road in Swansea Wednesday morning fighting a fire which broke out on a motor boat.
Fire Chief Peter Burke said the flames broke out around 9:15a.m. after an reported explosion in the boat engine.
“[The operator] was starting it and some sort of explosion happened, that’s what caused the fire; probably from the gasoline engine,” said Burke.
Burke says firefighters were able to quickly put the flames out and were able to tow the boat back to a boat dock. He says a man was taken to the hospital out of precaution with non-life threatening injuries.
Eyewitness Carol Demarais said she was out for a morning run when she heard a man calling for help.
“I heard a guy call for 911 that a boat was on fire, turned around and looked and the boat was smoking,” said Demarais “it smoked for about 20 minutes when it all of a sudden just blew up into full flames.”
The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.
