Fire officials in Grapevine said an accidental electrical fire broke out on a boat at Silver Lake Marina on Sunday, spreading to at least nine other boats and leaving one person injured.
Officials told NBC 5 that the fire was brought under control and investigators are looking into what caused the flames to break out.
One person was hurt, and multiple boats were damaged following a large fire that broke out at Silver Lake Marina on Lake Grapevine.
According to police, one person has a broken leg and may have a head injury.
“I’ve seen some of the pictures online, it’s scary, it’s scary,” said Steve Puren, who has a boat at the marina. “It’s unbelievable, unbelievable.”
A cloud of black smoke was seen over the lake Sunday afternoon. One video shared with NBC 5 showed firetrucks presumably on the way to the scene.
Investigators said around 1:15 PM, someone tried to start their boat at the marina when a possible electrical issue caused the boat to catch fire.
Fire officials said the total number of boats damaged could grow as the investigation continues.
“Some have sank,” said Grapevine fire chief Darrell Brown. “Some have burned and are not salvageable at all.”
Some Silver Lake Marina boat owners rushed to the scene to take in the damage. Steve Puren said he was texted by a friend who saw the flames from the lake.
“It’s horrific, big fire,” Puren said. “And there’s nothing worse than a boat fire.”
Fire officials said part of the difficulty in fighting this fire was that the closest full-sized water pump to the marina was nearly half a mile away, and firefighters had to lay more than 2000 feet of hose down to the lake.
Crews ultimately got the flames under control – and leaders said without their response the damage could have been worse.
“There’s hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars of boats down there that, it could have been a really bad day and they kept it from being there,” said Brown.
Five to six boats are on fire and at least one person is injured after a large fire broke out at Silver Lake Marina on Lake Grapevine Sunday afternoon, according to Grapevine police.