Boat, car, RV owners wait anxiously to file insurance claims in Lackawanna fire

Nov. 21--It took Fred Marks Jr. and his father four years to restore their 1970 Century Buccaneer, a 23-foot runabout used primarily as a pleasure boat.

It likely took just minutes for the classic craft to burn, its fiberglass hull flaming like a fireball in the cavernous storage site at the former Bethlehem Steel Plant in Lackawanna.

It was a dark day for Marks, who recalled working on the boat with his father.

"The whole project was pretty special, but I lost him to lung cancer," said Marks who is 47 and lives in Hamburg. "The boat represented the last period of time I spent with him on a project. It's sad."

Marks and 124 other property owners stored their boats, classic cars or recreational vehicles at Dr. Bob's Storage, one of 16 businesses inside the former steel mill that burned for four days on Route 5 at Lincoln Avenue.

The massive fire remains under investigation, according to Lackawanna Fire Chief Ralph Galanti. And that means owners who stored their property at the facility, already struggling with the loss of their oftentimes expensive recreational items, also can't submit insurance claims yet.

"Property owners are requesting incident reports on the fire, but they are not yet available," Galanti said Friday.

Claims experts from BoatUS, which offers marine insurance, explained why a delay can occur in filing claims from a catastrophic fire.

"With a fire of this size there will be an investigation into the cause," said Rick Wilson, vice president of claims for BoatUS. "There may be multiple probes depending on the number of insurance companies involved. A little bit of patience is necessary. Certainly within 60 days one would expect to see resolution."

Also, some property owners who stored recreational belongings during the off season opt out of insurance.

"There are some boaters who don't believe they need insurance in winter months when their boat is in storage," said Scott Croft, BoatUS vice president of public affairs. "People want to save a few bucks and cancel."

One boat left outside the facility was spared, according to Dr. Robert Hornberger, an optometrist who owns the storage facility. "The owner dropped it off and never pulled it in," he said.

Hornberger's office at the facility -- with 16-inch thick concrete walls and a fire wall -- was not touched by the fire, but it did suffer water damage, he said. Last week, Hornberger met with the demolition team and investigators.

"I told them how important it was not to demolish the office area where I keep my contracts," Hornberger said Friday during a break between patients. "Everyone kept on calling and emailing me asking for information, asking for refunds."

"They told me the office space would have been incinerated, but when the demolition guy moved the pieces of metal to get close to the door, the water-damaged records were sitting on my desk where they belong. Investigators kept them until Tuesday because they wanted to copy them. I got them back Tuesday afternoon."

On Wednesday, Hornberger said he prepared a mailing to each of his customers with copies of the contract and a letter from fire marshals detailing what documents are needed to file an insurance claim.

Dr. Bob's Storage was a relative newcomer on the storehouse scene, one that offered more affordable rates, said Richard Dane, of the Erie Basin Marina Slipholders Association.

"People shop around," said Dane. "They pick the facility based on the quality of service, the whole package. If you were at Bethlehem Steel, you'd have to have a trailer. A lot of guys like to have their boats inside. Smith Boys is quite a haul. "

Jim Marinello, general manager at Smith Boys Marine in North Tonawanda, described the volatile nature of boat fires. "Once a fiberglass boat starts a fire, it burns extremely hot, so hot that it melts a solid-steel high beam ceiling."

Marinello recalled two other large boat fires:

* April 2015 -- Placid Harbor Marina on the western end of Tonawanda Island, a 2.5-story steel and concrete structure, erupted in flames at 2:35 a.m. and burned out of control for three hours. It was fought by more than 100 firefighters. About 28 boats suffered extensive damage.

* October 1988 -- A 100,000-square-foot warehouse on River Road shared by Smith Boys and Frontier Tire sustained $3 million in damage. That fire burned out of control for 2.5 hrs.

Paul Clark, 64, a certified public accountant, purchased his 2004 Winnebago Sightseer two years ago to trailer his cars to National Mustang Racers Association events throughout the Northeast. His two grandsons in Louisville like to camp out in the Winnebago when they watch him race, he said.

This was his first year at Dr. Bob's, said Clark, who selected the storage site based on its proximity to his West Seneca home and the fact that it was a "big solid building."

"As much as I was attached to this piece of property, I'm glad no one was hurt or killed," said Clark, referring to the Winnebago. "You have insurance, you move on. Thank God the Mustang was somewhere else."

Clark is in the process of buying a 2015 Tiffin motor home.

Marks, who lost an irreplaceable link to his father when their classic Century was destroyed by the fire, also is in the market for a new boat, though this time he is not looking for a restoration project.

The property owner who may have taken the biggest hit in the fire lost a $420,000 Tiffin diesel coach "motor-mansion" with king size bed, leather sectional, granite counter tops, top-of-the-line appliances and wide screen television, said one source.

Hornberger, 55, also lost personal property in the fire at his warehouse: two vehicles including an "old Corvette," a jet ski, a snowmobile and a specially equipped van for his mother, who had since passed away.

"It's been terrible," he said. "I have a lot of work left to do."

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