Five safely escape boat fire off Bloody Point

Five boaters safely escaped their burning vessel Saturday after it caught fire off the southern end of Kent Island, Anne Arundel County firefighters said.

Arriving on the scene between Horseshoe Point and Bloody Point about 3:34 p.m., firefighters and Maryland Natural Resource Police officers located the boaters aboard a passing boat. They said the fire broke out near the engine cabin of their boat, a 1978 45-foot Chris-Craft Sportfish named Wire Nut.

The boat was 50% engulfed in flames when police and firefighters arrived. Firefighters knocked down the fire and then cut open a vent in the structure to prevent it from spreading to 300 gallons of fuel aboard, said Capt. Russ Davies, a fire department spokesperson.

Firefighters tied off to the vessel and then boarded to put the fire out. They pumped out the boat to keep it from sinking. Police towed the boat from the scene.

The fire took 30 minutes to control, and Davies said damages were estimated at $40,000.

The owners of the Wire Nut are from Frederick, and kept it docked at Kentmorr Marina, said Lauren Moses, spokesperson for Natural Resources Police.

The boat recently had been listed for sale on the Atlantic Yard Ship website, but broker Andrey Shestakov said the boat had been sold but not removed. He was unsure of the purchaser.

"Some brokers on this type boat don't care to record it, since it is very old and cheap," Shestakov said.

The listing agent wrote that both of the 8-71 Detroit Diesels were rebuilt in 2016. It had a little over 100 hours on its rebuilt engines at the time of the listing.

"She would make a perfect live aboard or low cost fishing boat on the Chesapeake," the listing agency wrote.

Crews from the Tilghman Island Volunteer Fire Department, North Beach Volunteer Fire Department and Coast Guard also responded to the fire.