“Boat fire suddenly. We got away with it.” The story

You’ve just finished refitting your boat, the Rattin (a small 1980 Zuanelli 25, 7.30 x 2.52 m), and you can’t wait to get out there to “take a few edges” and enjoy it. You are 71 years old and retired. With you your partner. Outside the Genoa seawall (west side) there is a wisp of wind, the sea is flat. Perfect condition, you tell yourself. You can think of anything except that that is the last time you sail on your boat because a sudden fire destroys it completely.

Boat fire, how we got away with it

Carlo Tulipiero and his partner Claudia saw the flames burst into flames within minutes, and it is thanks to their promptness and cold-bloodedness (as well as commendable “overconfidence,” as we shall see) that they are here today to tell the story.

“We had just left the breakwater at Voltri,” Tulipiero explains, “when Claudia, went below deck, felt like a wisp of smoke coming out of the engine compartment. He immediately warned me, and I, first, immediately turned off the engine (a 2008 Lombardini 20-horsepower inboard, with less than 600 engine hours, ed.). I got out, raised the hatch and checked the engine. It was not overheated in the slightest, and the water temperature from thermostat was regular. However, I smelled an intense odor, like burnt wires. I immediately decided to return to port by taking advantage of the respected outboard, an old Johnson 5-horsepower four-stroke.”

Boat fire, smoke rises

But things got worse: “As we headed ashore, the smoke from below deck increased. I became aware of it because it was coming out of one of the instruments in the cockpit, coincidentally located above the engine compartment. I immediately called both the fire department and the harbormaster’s office, all the while the smoke was increasing exponentially.”

Fortunately, the tender is in the water: “I had lowered the tender two meters into the water just before, to test how to take it in tow in anticipation of the summer cruise, thank goodness.” And that’s not all: Carlo also had a third engine on board, a Yamaha 3 hp short shank for the tender. Two respectable engines on a 7.30 m boat: safety can never be too much!

“Very calmly but swiftly-I say this now, thinking back-and without ever panicking, we got organized. Claudia went down on the tender, I handed him the engine that was attached to the pulpit. I was able to hand her some items, such as the portable autopilot and her bag with her cell phone that was fortunately in the cockpit, with which we had called for help.

I went below deck only once, to grab the fire extinguisher and try to quell the fire, but although the extinguisher was oversized for my boat and fully functional, it was of no use; the fire was now too extensive. To retrieve my papers, which I had left in the forward cabin, was out of the question: it would have been crazy to try to go through the fumes below deck!

With Claudia who had untied the tender and was waiting for me attached to the burning boat with her hands, I got into the small boat and we got away as fast as we could, first by paddling (the outboard did not turn on right away), then with the motor. Diesel fuel tanks could explode at any time!“.

What can I say, well done. Tulipiero has been going to sea for years, Claudia has less experience but they both showed seamanship, self-control, and cool heads in a situation that, trite to say, can happen to anyone.

The epilogue (and the costly recovery and disposal)

Once removed, the two were first rescued by an inflatable boat, then by a gozzo that accommodated them and refreshed them with fresh water, while awaiting the arrival of the Coast Guard and the Fire Department: the latter intervened with the Drago helicopter with divers on board, by sea with another team of divers on an inflatable boat, and by motorboat with a team on board.

Tulipiero was taken to the hospital because he appeared to be breathing with some difficulty, probably as a result of smoke inhalation. But now he is doing fine. The cause of the fire? It is not known, but the smell of burning wires could be traced to a short circuit.

The boat sank in front of Multedo beach in western Genoa, and the wreck was recovered by licensed divers who retrieved it for disposal in accordance with the law. All at the expense of poor Carlo, who was already heartbroken about losing the boat he had been going to sea with all his life: “I found out that you are obliged to pay insurance (RC) for every engine you have on board and that does not include salvage even in a port area, to the detriment of everyone’s safety….”

E.R.