Lake Mead Marina Fire Destroys 10 Boats Overnight

Lina Portman4 weeks ago

1 1 minute read

Smoke is seen rising from several burning boats at the Lake Mead Marina in Hemenway Harbor on Sunday, June 9, 2024. (Courtesy Dave Madden)

Boats are docked at the Las Vegas Harbor at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Monday, June 5, 2023, in Boulder City. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Revue-Journal de Las Vegas) @btesfaye

Boats are docked at the Las Vegas Harbor at Lake Mead National Recreation Area on Monday, June 5, 2023. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

A Sunday morning fire sank 10 boats, damaged several others and caused minor injuries at Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

“We built a fire break by removing a few boats, and then the fire department put water on the other boats,” said Bruce Nelson, whose family operates the Lake Mead Marina.

Wow, boats on fire at the Lake Mead Marina.#lacmead pic.twitter.com/8Q4KeIrYxH

– davemadden.crypto (@davemaddencrypt) June 9, 2024

Some of the docks at Hemenway Port were also damaged by the fire.

Nelson said one firefighter was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and other people suffered minor burns.

“Fire is never a welcome thing,” Nelson said. “We had our own fireboat to remove the nearest boats. It started on one boat and jumped to others.

Firefighters from Clark County, Henderson, Boulder City and the Bureau of Land Management responded to the fire that broke out shortly before 1 a.m., Nelson said.

Dave Madden said he and his wife were about a half-mile from the harbor when he saw the flames.

“You could hear the explosions,” he said. “There was a lot of smoke and it looked like about 10 boats were on fire at one point.”

The cause of the fire was unknown as of 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

Three Clark County Fire Department units were on scene at the Lake Mead Marina from 12:50 a.m. to approximately 5:25 a.m., according to the PulsePoint app.

Contact Marvin Clemons at [email protected].