Crews try to contain fuel, oil spill after large marina fire



PORT ORCHARD, Wash. -- A massive fire that ripped through a popular marina Sunday morning destroyed nearly half a dozen boats.

It happened at the Port Orchard Yacht Club, where cleanup crews were trying to contain oil and fuel that had contaminated Sinclair Inlet.

This fire quickly turned into a 2-alarm early Sunday morning, sinking five boats and destroying the boathouses they were moored in.

So far officials don’t yet know what caused the fire.

Five boats sank to the bottom of the inlet; officials worry three of them could be leaking fuel and oil.

The spill is a big challenge for the Washington State Department of Ecology.

From the air, investigators could see a bright sheen of oil and fuel polluting Sinclair Inlet.

Now the hard task of clean up begins but it could take a while.

“It’s hard to say because of all the different agencies involved with their different goals,” said Valerie Van Tine with the U.S. Coast Guard. “We have been working through the night, so we’re doing as much as we can as safely as we can.

A 3,000 foot-long containment boom has been set up around the marina to keep any fuels or debris from spreading contamination any further.

Divers will head back into the water to do another assessment of the sunken boats to see if they are leaking more contaminants.

Clean up crews could be working through the end of the week.