A man’s yacht caught fire near Panmure marina after an electrical issue on July 25.
The Maraetai Coastguard’s MR1 was tied up besides Lion Foundation Rescue in Wharf Bay, where the crew heard a distress call over the VHF radio.
Within 12 minutes, the MR1 was picking up fire crew at Panmure Yacht club and taking them to the 40ft (12.2m) ferrocement yacht on a mooring a few hundred metres away.
Media reported that prior to the entrance of Maraetai Coastguard; the man was desperately trying to save his boat by transporting firefighters to it in his dinghy.
Maraetai Coast Guard skipper Kerry Johnson remembers that the man “had already gotten one firefighter across from the yacht club”.
“The other two were doing what they could to control the fire.”
The fire was extinguished in 15 minutes.
Once the smoke and steam disappeared, the crew pumped out the water.
“Having not used our fire pump on a real fire before, it was great to see that it truly works.”
The man living onboard had cut through a small electrical twin core that was live and not fused.
“Within four seconds, he had smoke and a fire in his electrical locker.”
He then called 111 as he had no fire extinguisher.
Johnson said if the yacht was wooden or fibreglass, it would have sunk.
The outside hull temperature reached 130 degrees and large areas of paint had peeled off.
