Paramedic Christopher Fell was enjoying a Mother’s Day dinner with his parents at their waterfront home in Sidney on Sunday afternoon when he heard an explosion and cries for help coming from the direction of North Saanich Marina.
He saw a boat on fire and two people — a man and an older woman — in the water. His paramedic training kicked in and he did a quick risk assessment before diving into the cold water and swimming toward the scene.
By the time he arrived, someone had pulled the man into an inflatable boat and started doing CPR.
“I recognized it was a cardiac arrest. Being a paramedic, I knew I could do something,” he said. “Kind of hard to stand around and watch something like that.”
Fell, 27, said it took some time and several bystanders to get the older woman out of the water. She did not appear to be seriously injured, but the man could not be revived.
Fell said the man who died, who was in his 50s, according to the B.C. Coroners Service, was with his wife and mother or mother-in-law when the fire broke out on their boat. The man’s wife was on the dock when Fell arrived at the scene.
One boat and a fuel dock were destroyed in the explosion and fire, and two people were taken to hospital. Earlier information from RCMP indicating that three boats were affected was inaccurate.
The fire originated in the boat, which had just fuelled up and was set to depart the marina, said Brook Castelsky, chief operating officer of Oak Bay Marine Group, which owns the North Saanich marina, as well as marinas in Oak Bay, Pedder Bay and Ladysmith.
“Unfortunately, this tragic event resulted in one fatality, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family,” he said.
Castelsky confirmed that one of the two people taken to hospital was a young woman working in the marina’s gas bar. She has since been released from hospital, he said.
Castelsky thanked first responders for their efforts in containing the fire. Deputy Fire Chief Aaron Kary said 19 firefighters from North Saanich Fire Department responded to the blaze, along with fire crews from Sidney and Central Saanich, paramedics, RCMP officers and the coast guard.
RCMP Cpl. Chris Manseau said the cause of the fire is under investigation, but it does not appear to be suspicious. “It’s pretty early to determine anything,” Manseau said.
RCMP investigators were at the marina Monday trying to determine the next steps in the investigation. Manseau said specialized units are expected to be called in, such as the RCMP’s explosive-disposal unit and underwater recovery team, which will look for evidence in the water.
Thick, dark smoke could be seen billowing into the sky Sunday evening from as far away as Cobble Hill, while the fire continued to smoulder for several hours.
Witnesses said the boat caught fire just before 4 p.m. and the blaze spread to the fuel dock, which burned until all that was left was the charred frame.
Findlay and Katherine Gibbons were sitting outside on their property that looks onto the marina when they heard a “huge bang” and saw white smoke rising from a boat at the marina’s fuel dock.
“Somebody flew up in the air [off the boat] and landed in the water,” Findlay Gibbons said. “There was a lot of screaming and somebody dove in for him.”
The couple saw a rubber dinghy arrive on the scene to help rescue the person, and people performed CPR “for the longest time.”
“Shortly thereafter flames appeared on the boat and we ran and phoned 911,” Findlay Gibbons said.
They watched flames spread from the boat to the marina’s fuel dock and could hear cries for help. They saw Fell run across their property, dive into the water and swim to the dinghy to help.
“His father came and said he was a paramedic and he was going over to assist in the resuscitation,” Findlay Gibbons said.
Engulfed in flames, the boat drifted from the dock and continued to burn in the bay “right down to the water,” said George Mackie, whose property also looks on to the marina’s fuel dock. “It looked like a goner.”
He watched the flames approach a second boat moored next to the fuel dock, but said it appeared to be spared. Also close to the dock is a row of boathouses. Flames were “licking up” beside the nearest house, Mackie said.
He watched fire crews work to extinguish the fuel-bar fire, but little could be salvaged.
“It’s just a burnt-out hulk. It’s totally black,” he said.
Based on the time stamps for photos he took, the explosion happened at 3:47 or 3:48 p.m., he said.
The Canadian Coast Guard responded with two vessels to help with search and rescue, and its crews later set out a boom to contain fuel from the boat and the gas dock.
On Monday, the Coast Guard returned with divers to try to plug fuel leaks, but they continued.
The boat was pulled from the water on Monday afternoon.
Note readers: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of paramedic Christopher Fell's name.
