An early Sunday fire sank 10 boats, did damage to several more and caused minor injuries at Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
“We built a fire break by pulling some boats out of the way and then the fire departments got water on the other boats,” said Bruce Nelson, whose family operates Lake Mead Marina.
Wow some boats on fire at the marina on lake Mead.#lakemead pic.twitter.com/8Q4KeIrYxH
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Some of the docks at the Hemenway Harbor facility were also damaged by the fire.
Nelson said one firefighter was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and some other people suffered minor burns.
“Fire is never a welcome thing,” Nelson said. “We had our own fire boat to pull out the boats that were the closest. It started on one boat and jumped to the others.”
Clark County, Henderson, Boulder City and Bureau of Land Management firefighters responded to the fire that started shortly before 1 a.m., Nelson said.
Dave Madden said he and his wife were about a half-mile from the harbor when he saw the flames.
“You could hear the explosions,” he said. “There was a lot of smoke and it looked like about 10 boats on fire at one point.”
The cause of the fire was unknown as of 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
Three Clark County Fire Department units were at the scene at Lake Mead Marina from 12:50 to about 5:25 a.m., according to the PulsePoint app.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com.