The tiny oceanside communities on Martha’s Vineyard banded together yesterday, with some help from Cape Cod, to battle a large harbor fire at the US Coast Guard Station in the village of Menemsha, officials said.
A boathouse for the station in Menemsha, which is located in the town of Chilmark, caught fire around 2:42 p.m. yesterday and quickly engulfed a pier and truck and trailer, the Coast Guard said. The fire spread from there.
“It’s a fairly large fire that spread from the boathouse to several of the docks that are in the immediate area, causing extensive damage,’’ said State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan, who arrived on the scene last night. “Several privately owned boats were destroyed, but several others were safely pushed away from the piers.’’
About 22 people work at the station, but there were no reports of injuries. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
Firefighters from nearly every community on the Vineyard were still putting water on the blaze yesterday evening, as crews attacked from the land and from the water. A fireboat from Falmouth also responded.
The station’s 25-foot rescue boat was out at the time, but a larger 47-foot vessel was moored to the pier and had to be rushed out of the fire zone.
Kim Heath of West Tisbury was dropping her daughter off for a horseback riding lesson nearby when she saw thick black smoke rising from the harbor.
“I couldn’t tell what it was that was burning at first, because there was so much smoke,’’ Heath said. “And as we wound around the roadway and got to a bridge, it got really hot.’’
Globe correspondent Sean Teehan contributed to this report. John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com. 
