Yacht blazes with 1,000 rounds of ammunition and fireworks onboard in Marina del Rey

A 30.5-metre Broward Marine yacht carrying nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition and fireworks caught fire before sinking in Marina del Rey harbour, California.

The yacht named The Admiral was docked at Marine Del Rey when the blaze broke out. L.A County Fire Department reported that at approximately 8.33pm on Wednesday 18 September, the fire department responded to a report of boat fire. Two passengers safely evacuated the vessel without injury and the cleanup operation is now in full swing.

The County Fire Department said the owner confirmed that there were 1,000 rounds of unspent ammunition and fireworks onboard. Witness video footage (see below) now circulating online shows explosions and fireworks shooting into the air as the blaze takes hold of the yacht. The cause of the yacht fire is still under investigation.

“I saw it fully engulfed in flames and like many of us living here, heard an explosion and saw fireworks coming off it, and more flames and then walked down here and captured video of it,” witness Lynn Rose told NBC Los Angeles.

Firefighters battled the blaze to avoid the fire spreading to other nearby craft and structures. At approximately 10.30pm The Admiral began to list and sink.

Clean-up operation in Marina del Rey

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) established a Unified Command on Friday 20 September to monitor clean-up efforts. It includes members of the Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (CDFW-OSPR).

Coast Guard and CDFW-OSPR teams monitored the deployment of approximately 2,000 feet of boom placed around the vessel and affected areas. Crews continue to monitor the area and worked through the night with the Oil Spill Response Organization to assess the extent of impact and continue clean-up efforts.

The scene on Friday 20 September with the boom deployed around the wreck of The Admiral. Image courtesy of USCG.

“Our Coast Guard team was able to transition quickly from a fire response to an oil spill response, which allowed us to ensure we had the right people and resources mobilized,” says Capt. Stacey L. Crecy, the Coast Guard’s federal on-scene coordinator. “We were able to deploy containment and collection equipment as soon as it was safe to do so to mitigate the impacts from the discharge of diesel from the vessel after it became submerged.”

“A CDFW-OSPR environmental scientist is on scene working to monitor and limit impacts to environmental resources and sensitive sites,” says Christian Corbo, CDFW-OSPR state on-scene coordinator. “Currently, there are no impacts to environmental sensitive sites or species.”

Images courtesy of L.A County Fire Department unless otherwise captioned.

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