LAKE HARTWELL – A day after at least 30 boats were damaged or destroyed in a fire at a popular weekend spot for people in metro Atlanta, 11Alive got an exclusive up-close look at the damage.
On Monday, one of the docks at Portman Marina on Lake Hartwell went up in flames when a generator on one of the boats backfired and ignited.
A day later, the Department of Natural Resources and other agencies are on the lake to ensure that debris and don’t float out into the lake.
“There are some pretty big pieces of debris from the dock and things like that,” Sgt. Hunter Mize with the South Carolina DNR told 11Alive’s Christie Ethridge as they took a boat to survey the damage.
Some of the damage to the lake was obvious like a charred roof and the collapsing dock which Mize said they’ll have to tear down and replace.
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However, most of the worst damage is just out of sight.
“You can see a boat right there. That’s the top of a boat right there,” Mize pointed out. “It just went straight down. That’s the front of the boat.”
At least 11 empty slips spread up and down the dock.
“The most hectic thing was trying to keep it from spreading,” Mize said.
Mize was out in his boat on Monday after hearing the fire chief call for extra help.
“I was sitting right here on this buoy line and I could feel the heat that was directly behind me,” he said.
His job was to keep people away from the mesmerizing flames and the thick black smoke. With at least 40 boats in each dock, all full of hundreds of gallons of fuel, Mize knew it could get bad quick.
“A big fire like that with fuel on all these boats and all these slips you never know what’s getting hot,” Mize said.
Lake Hartwell boat, dock fire
It took two hours to get the fire under control and 24 hours later, an oil sheen covers the water. Also noticeable are the charred bits that were too light to sink as they gathered around the hazmat berm. They leave only clues about the handful of boats that are now under the water instead of on top of it.
Just by looking at the lake, you would never know but underneath the water are at least two boats that sank about 150 yards from the dock that burned.
