Lightbulb Causes $40,000,000 Fire in Boat Storage Building
On Wednesday, December 20, David McPhail of Boatcan Computer Boat Search contacted us to say that there was a major fire in St Clair Township burning that morning. At the time, he said a storage building containing as many as 50 boats was ablaze at Coopmans Marina on Old River Road Port Lambton. Witnesses reported hearing some explosions and heavy black smoke filled the air.
Fire Chief Roy Dewhirst reported that St Clair Township Firefighters from Port Lambton and Becher stations had been called to the scene just after 7am.
The investigation has now been made and the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal has ruled out numerous other possibilities and concluded that an electrical problem likely sent a spark onto one of 75 boats in the large storage facility at the St. Clair Boathouse.
All 75 boats and four antique cars in the single-story building were destroyed in the Dec. 20 fire, according to a report by the Toronto Sun.
Officials believe a faulty lightbulb is the apparent cause of this $40 million marina boathouse fire in Port Lambton. The Sun Newspaper also shows numerous reader comments about faulty high-power lightbulbs and apparently, these do sometimes explode and cause fires.
Our readers who are in the boat storage business should take this as a warning about both the danger of certain types of lighting and also that once burning, fiberglass is extremely hard to extinguish and the fumes are very toxic.
