On July 3, a fire ripped through one of nine large docks at Tracy Ferry Marina on Lake Norfork destroying or heavily damaging most of the dock and about 26 boats.
Seth Bemis, owner of the facility, said Wednesday that, except for the one dock involved in the fire, the marina is open and operating normally. He said many people have contacted him asking if the marina was closed, “but we are open and doing business.” Because the dock that burned is in fragile condition, boaters are being asked to keep wakes down to a minimum. Bemis says “We are doing all we can to keep the dock floating and reducing wake size will help us.”
EXPLODING BOAT ENGINE STARTED FIRE
The fire, ignited when a boat engine “exploded,” was fed by various materials including gasoline, oil and fiberglass from which many of the boats were built. The burning materials produced a large plume of black smoke.
It was a difficult fire to fight, but a bigger job is just now getting underway – cleaning up the aftermath of the fire in a way that will prevent further damage to the waters of the lake.
The fire broke out in the evening of July 3. A boat owner told investigators from the Baxter Count Sheriff’s Office he and his family were getting the boat’s running lights connected and working.
According to a Baxter County Sheriff’s Office incident report, the boat’s owner said while work was being done on the running lights, the engine was running and that the engine suddenly exploded and burst into flames.
Two men ran to the scene with fire extinguishers, but were unable to get the flames under control.
A number of fire departments responded to assist the Tracy Area Fire Protection District in tackling the flames.
STATE AGENCY INVOLVED IN CLEANUP PLAN
Various divisions of the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment (ADEE) have been working with the owner of the marina figuring out how best to clean up what the fire left behind.
And, the plan must also cover such items as minimizing pollution that might be caused by the clean up effort itself, and the dismantling of what is left of Dock 3 and constructing a new structure.
DEMOLITION OF DAMAGED DOCK
According to documents provided by ADEE, the owner of Tracy Ferry Marina has proposed to move the fire-ravaged dock into George’s Cove just north of the entrance to the area where the marina is located.
What is left of the dock is to be demolished.
The ADEE/Division of Water Quality has requested that water sampling be done in the area where the burned out dock was once located and in George’s Cove where the demolition work will be done.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS RELEASED
When a dock and the boats it houses burn, a number of hazardous materials are released into the water.
Those materials include gasoline, oil, the contents of lead acid batteries and fiberglass. One of the goals of the cleanup at Tracy Ferry Marina is to identify and remove as many pollutants from the lake as possible.
In a letter to the owner of the marina, the ADEE emergency response manager suggested, “anything being moved during this process should remain boomed.”
An “oil boom” as it is commonly known is a floating barrier designed to prevent the spread of oil, gasoline and other pollutants that might spill in a fire such as the recent one at Tracy Marina.
While the clean up is underway, “pollution control methods, such as the deployment of the oil booms, will be necessary to capture, contain and prevent migration of any materials associated with this activity.”
SHORT TERM ACTIVITY AUTHORIZATION
A list of methods proposed to locate and remove debris, litter or any other hazardous materials will be included in an application for a Short Term Activity Authorization (STAA).
The STAA will allow various jobs to take place even though they may cause short-term deviations from water quality standards.
Cleanup activities may be permitted by the an STAA, “if deemed essential to the protection or promotion of the public interest,” and when no permanent or long-term impairment to a body of water will result.
According to material provided by ADEE to KTLO, Classic Hits and the Boot News Tuesday, the STAA approval process is “generally very short and can be accomplished in a few days or less” depending on the level of the emergency being addressed.
It is noted that a significant amount of material sank and “is now on the lake floor at 100 feet or more in some areas,” according to ADEE. A plan to raise those materials and remove them from the water will be part of the overall cleanup effort.
The shoreline will also be examined to locate materials that needs to be removed.
Until cleanup plans are approved, the marina owner said it was difficult to even estimate the cost of the damage and a timeline for completing the project.
A number of fire departments responded to the fire and were on the scene for almost four hours. In addition to the sheriff’s office, personnel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission were on hand.
Only one person was injured in the fire, a passenger in the boat where the engine exploded and caught fire.
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