< Back to front page Text size – +

Coast Guard boathouse on Martha's Vineyard catches fire

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 12, 2010 07:13 PM

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Staff

A boathouse and pier at Coast Guard Station Menemsha on Martha’s Vineyard caught fire this afternoon.

Parts of the station at the town of Chilmark, on the island, caught fire around 2:42 p.m. The boathouse, pier, and a truck and trailer for a 25-foot rescue boat became engulfed in flames, according to a Coast Guard statement.

The station’s larger, 47-foot boat, escaped before the pier it was moored to went up in flames.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. About 22 people work at the station.

The Martha’s Vineyard Times has kept a time line of the fire. At 3 p.m., the local harbormaster ordered all boats evacuated from the harbor and closed it to in-bound traffic.

By 3:07 p.m., all of the neighboring Edgartown and Tisbury firefighters had responded, the paper reported on its website.

State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan arrived on the island about 5 p.m. to investigate, he said in a brief phone interview.

The area normally covered by Menemsa is being picked up by other Coast Guard stations, as well as the Woods Hole-based 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Sanibel, which moved into the area.

Globe Correspondent Sean Teehan contributed to this report.