A dramatic early-morning fire tore through superyachts at a marina on Sydney’s lower north shore, sinking three vessels and badly damaging a fourth, as police rushed to evacuate people from nearby boats. Reported by Jack Gramenz from Stuff.
Emergency services were called to the blaze at The Spit Marina in Mosman, near the southern end of the Spit Bridge, shortly before 3.30am on Friday. People sleeping on their boats were woken and told to flee as flames spread rapidly across the dock.
Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry said around 40 firefighters were required to bring the fire under control, with the damage running into millions of dollars. Four people managed to escape safely, while NSW Ambulance paramedics treated a woman for smoke inhalation before taking her to hospital in a stable condition.
Dewberry said the incident could have been far worse given the density and value of the vessels in the marina.
“There’s dozens of boats and yachts and a lot of money, and people are living on some of these vessels as well,” he told Nine.
Boat owner Andrew Carr said he was jolted awake around 4am when police began evacuating people from their boats.
“Loud bang at the door, which is unusual when you’re sleeping in your boat,” he told Nine.
“I got up, there’s a police officer at the door, he said: ‘Could you get off the boat there’s been a fire on the dock.’
“They went through every boat, he knocked on everyone’s door.”
Carr described seeing thick, toxic smoke as flames from one vessel leapt quickly to others.
“And burnt really, really quickly, I was really surprised. They couldn’t put them out,” Carr said.
Vision from the scene showed one of the heavily charred boats partially submerged as it sank. Authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze, though it is not currently being treated as suspicious.
NSW Port Authority vessels also assisted firefighters, helping to extinguish the flames and remove fuel and oils from the damaged boats to prevent contamination of the surrounding water.
The Spit Marina is operated by d’Albora and is home to a range of marine services, including boat hire and brokerage businesses, a boat club and restaurants. The site is promoted as “one of Sydney Harbour’s most prestigious boating precincts,” featuring “dedicated superyacht berths.”
David Joyce, d’Albora’s head of marketing, said efforts were focused on safety, clean-up and restoring operations.
“Our priority is ensuring safety on site, supporting authorities with their investigation and clean-up, and restoring safe operations as soon as possible.
“We have deployed significant resources to the site to assist with these tasks and minimise the disruption to our customers,” he said.
Normal marina operations are expected to resume on Friday afternoon.
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