Houseboat burns on Muskingum
Couple lose summer home to flames; city’s fire boat malfunctionsBy Patrick Cooley, pcooley@mariettatimes.com
Article Photos
Flames leveled a two-story paddlewheeler Thursday on the Muskingum River.
Several local fire departments responded to the blaze but were unable to save the boat, where a Blue Rock couple live during the summer months.
Tom Howard, one of the boat's owners, told a Devola volunteer firefighter the fire was probably electrical in nature.
"I heard sparks and then the lights dimmed," he said.
Howard said he went to the breaker box and saw smoke; then he and his wife, Gwen Yearego, evacuated.
When asked what was on the boat, Howard said, "Everything but what you see," referring to the clothes he was wearing.
Yearego stood on the banks watching firefighters battle the blaze and was consoled by some of her friends.
"We live on the boat during the summer," she said. "Everything we own was on that boat."
Local fire departments initially had problems putting the fire out because the boat detached from the dock where it was moored and began floating down the river.
"It was tied when we started to attack it with the fire hoses," said Richard Best, the assistant chief of the Devola Volunteer Fire Company. "Once it came loose, it floated 30 to 40 feet from the bank. We tried to latch onto it, but once it got out so far it was hard to catch it."
The boat eventually lodged against a tree on the shore of the Muskingum, and firefighters on the scene reported the blaze was under control by 12:30 p.m.
The superstructure of the boat was almost completely destroyed, leaving only the wooden framework.
The Marietta Fire Department sent its fire boat to the scene, but because of an air leak, it was unable to pump water to battle the blaze.
"The pump and the motor were fine," Marietta Fire Chief Tom Dempsey said. "(The boat) has to draft water out of the river; there is no reservoir tank. You can have as many leaks as you want on the outbound side of the water, but the inbound side has to be tight. You cannot have any air at all leak into the system or it won't pump."
Dempsey said this has happened twice before, both times on training runs. After those incidents, firefighters put sealant on the pipes, but Dempsey said the vibrations created when it tried to pump on Thursday were enough to create a leak.
He said firefighters were going to take the area in question completely apart and put on a bolted flange which would seal the area completely tight.
Howard and Yearego were not injured, but Best and two employees of Marietta Ambulance who work for the Devola squad were taken to Selby General Hospital. One of the ambulance employees reported chest pains and remained at the hospital as a precautionary measure.
Also responding to the fire were members of the Oak Grove, Salem, Fearing and L-A departments.
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firejunkie
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07-13-08 11:38 AM
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contraian you right the city could use some help at times and they do call in the mutual aid departments when needed. Chief Dempsey is a wonderful person and is very well weathered with knowledge in this area he too started as a volunteer. However they have to use there people first once all shifts are called then volunteers get called so they do have back-up it just takes awhile to make it through the system. The city really needs to let Chief Dempsey use the third party billing money to hire the fire personnel it was designed for instead of increasing the cities budget with it Chief Baker worked hard for that to be started and MFD has benefited very little by it. MFD can only do what council will allow and the city as a whole needs to stand up for them. Thank a Fireman today you might need them tommorrow.
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UcallWEhaul
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07-12-08 11:49 PM
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I think that all of the departments that were involved with the boat fire did an excellent job for the situation. Unless you are on a fire department, paid or volunteer, you dont have a clue what we do on a scene. I believe that the captain from devola who was first on scene did a wonderful job of calling in mutual aid from other departments and running the scene. There are limited volunteers during the day time hours. Those of us that came to help busted our a**es to do all we could in order to save the boat. Please dont make assumptions unless u were there. ................BDW&D Volunteer!!
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Contrarian
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07-12-08 4:09 PM
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Fire Junkie, one of the points that needs to be made is that you aren't allowed to volunteer in Marietta...it's a closed shop, for some reason. Perhaps they feel the volunteers outside the city aren't qualified, but through mutual aid the VFDs are called in the event of a large occurrence. Why can't Marietta have its own volunteer force to back up our paid firefighters? That makes no sense to average joes like me.
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firejunkie
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07-12-08 1:44 PM
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Thank you sick and tired for summing this up people need to to spend some time in a fire house to understand what we go through and tough this job really is. Paid or Volunteer it all boils down to the communities need us so we will continue to take the slams and just keep doing our jobs. If anyone thinks this walk in the park is for them than feel free to sign up at your local station.
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SickAndTired
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07-12-08 1:10 PM
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Hopefully this will put things to rest...none of you were there so you don't really know what really happened. You can't depend on news coverage to be 100 percent accurate...they only see a portion of the event and thats what they report on. Those of you who think firefighting is an over paid job go spend a day at a station and then you can comment. Those of you who want to comment on what its ilke to be volunteer firefighter or a paid one go spend some time at a station. Those of you who comment about having another "toy" don't have a clue what they go through...and by the way those toys are paid for to protect you. Those of you who comment that things should work are right but as I've been told by a lot of folks if its mechanical its gonna break. And finally instead of bashing those who try to protect us in times of need shouldn't we be grateful that no one was killed? Oh yeah and how about saying thanks for the effort instead of you should have done this or that.
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Finallap
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07-12-08 1:14 AM
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I agree Darby it should had worked..But it didnt. Seems like everyone is blaming MFD because the boat burnt up because thiers didnt work..I just stated that Marietta was called as mutual aid,and the boat was already destroyed by the time MFD got there.. I am in no way blaming devola either..
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Darby1952
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07-11-08 11:41 PM
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Finalap,, that was the dumbest statement I have ever read, So what if it wasn't MFD's run,,, the boat should operate properly or be kept out of service. Mutual aid aside, the equipment should work, especially new equipment.
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MisterWonderful
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07-11-08 11:34 PM
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It seems to me that people want to blame firefighters, both paid and volunteer for what happened. No one is to blame. Things happen. The boat was already on fire when Devola arrived and then the rope tying the boat to the dock burned, sending the boat down the river. Stop blaming volunteers for everything. If it wasn't for them, anyone outside of the city would be in real trouble.
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Finallap
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07-11-08 10:53 PM
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I just want to say IN NO WAY was I trying to put down any fire fighter or Fire dept.. I am very very sorry if it came out that way..My comments about volunteers was directed toward Marietta using volunteers.. We all know the city of Marietta would never pay for training and all of that.. I believe I read at 1 time they could not afford to put new fire fighters though training.Once again I want to say I am sorry if anyone thought I was putting down firefighters and and fire dept.
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firejunkie
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07-11-08 9:48 PM
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On to the next issue who ever wrote underpaid and over worked your right we all are. Myself alone i work a full time job 6 days a week and still put in close to 30 hours a week at the station i have 3 kids and wife too. This job is more than full time and we do it for our communities not for us so there right maybe a thank you would be better than all your negative comments.We risk our lives to save yours and you can't appreciate that what the heck is wrong with you people? And anybody from MFD Thank You for the assistance we appreciate the help and also the other volunteers as well, we will continue to function with one another no matter how many rude people there are. THANK YOU!
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firejunkie
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07-11-08 9:34 PM
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Devola Chief, First let me say i am very proud of the personnel that responded to this fire I beleave they did an awesome job and accomplished the task in which they were called for.It is truly a misfortune that it was a total loss but nithing more good have been done. The current issues at hand are training and you are right it does take alot of time from all of us paid or volunteer but let me tell you this paid or volunteer we all put are pants on one leg at a time. Our department trains every thursday evening and some weekends too. It was also very unfortunate that marietta's boat malfunctioned but let me guess your car has never broke down before. Before we make speculations on situations that you weren't there for know the facts. All equipment is very well maintained by us and the city. If you want to take time to speculate and voice your opinions than maybe instead of sitting at a computer you should voluteer your time and do some good instead of bashing those who help you.
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beddyrn
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07-11-08 6:32 PM
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QUESTIONS
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beddyrn
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07-11-08 6:30 PM
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Finallap: "Who is going to pay for their training they need before they can even go onto a fire?" VOL DEPT'S (THROUGH GRANTS AND LEVY MONEY)PAY FOR THEIR VOLUNTEERS TO GO TO FIRE TRAINING ! "Who is going to pay for the training they need every year or so? " AGAIN, THE DEPT PAYS FOR THE ONGOING TRAINING. AND JUST AN FYI: FIREFIGHTING IS NOT SOMEHING THAT YOU JUST TRAIN FOR "EVERY YEAR OR SO", IT IS, AT A MIN, MONTHY, IF NOT MORE. "How can a person hold down a full time job and still go through hours and hours of training that is required? " THAT IS WHY YOU SHOULD BE THANKING THEM! THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED VOLUNTEER. "Who is going to pay for the insurance in case they are hurt fighting a fire" THAT'S WHY DEPTS CARRY INSURANCE ON THEIR MEMBERS. MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE AN EDUCATIONAL FIELD TRIP TO A FIRE STATION SOME DAY. I'M SURE THAT AN OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID FIREFIGHTER WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO GIVE YOU A TOUR AND ANSWER ALL OF YOUR
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Finallap
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07-11-08 5:22 PM
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Its just might be a blessing this happened now. the boat was already destroyed by the time Marietta got there. This probably something that will never happen again.So its better it happened now.. Also this was not Marietta Fire dept run.. This was devola's Marietta was called in for mutual aid.. Ok lynn u metion volunteers? Who is going to pay for their training they need before they can even go onto a fire? Who is going to pay for the training they need every year or so? How can a person hold down a full time job and still go through hours and hours of training that is required? Who is going to pay for the insurance in case they are hurt fighting a fire
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newsnut
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07-11-08 4:24 PM
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I wonder of they had a fire boat in Mayberry
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lynn45750
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07-11-08 3:13 PM
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"wife",I don't believe anyone was blaming the MFD for not containing this fire. According to Mr. Dempsey, the house on Franklin was fully involved as well,yet the people who were commenting were screaming for more firefighters and most of them wanted nothing to do with the suggestion of volunteers. My only question is ....where are all those people today?
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Firemanswife
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07-11-08 2:35 PM
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It seems a little unfair to blame the MFD's boat for being able to contain this fire. The boat was already fully involved before the boat ever arrived. MFD does a great job protecting our city. People should be more apreciative of their efforts.
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beddyrn
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07-11-08 2:08 PM
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I LOVE ALL YOU PERFECT PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN YOUR PERFECT BUBBLE! GLAD THAT EVERYTHING YOU DO IN YOUR LIVES IS 100% PERFECT 100% OF THE TIME!
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lynn45750
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07-11-08 1:14 PM
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Where are all the "we need more firefighters" people today? No matter how many men we have.....the boat still would have had a problem. Let's get the thing fixed and practice until we are sure it is fixed. Hopefully the fireboat isn't needed this weekend.
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Francia
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07-11-08 11:58 AM
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Marietta FD does the best they can. I do hope, however, that they will having a "working" "riverboat firefighter" soon. I plan on visiting Marietta next week with my granddaughter, and to take her on the Valley Gem. Would like to know that there is help if needed?
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samy07
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07-11-08 9:13 AM
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One would think that if it had leaked in practice, they would keep "practicing" with it until it worked properly...
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newsnut
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07-11-08 9:08 AM
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I'm glad Marietta's new fire boat preformed so well. They meed more toys
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