Sunday, May 22, 2016

Fire on the Presli Jo

I saw the smoke, a black plume in the early morning twilight. It was at the yacht basin. When I got there, I could see flames, but there were no fire trucks around. A big yacht horn sounded, loud and long. I called 911 on my cell phone. They didn't answer and then a cop car drove up. I hung up and took a picture (above) with my phone. Another cop car drove up. I was going back to my car to get my camera. The cop parked behind me told me to go away, so I moved the car. Still no fire trucks.

 


I got my camera and telephoto lens out of the car and found a place where I could see the fire. It was a small sailing yacht, fully engulfed in flames. 

 


Finally I heard the siren of a fire truck, and I saw the red lights. The fire burned. I couldn't see any fire fighters and the fire seemed to go on and on. After a while I saw a stream of water from behind another yacht. It was like a garden hose but it did seem to reduce the size of the flames. Then the water stopped for a while, then started again more vigorously. Pretty quickly, the flames went out. 

 


I shifted my position and I could see a small crowd of fire fighters and other people on the dock. One was holding a hose, spraying the ill-fated sailboat, which was still steaming. Then a fire boat came and slowly towed the burnt yacht out from among the other berthed yachts and out into the river, to the outer dock. I could see the name, the Presli Jo. 

 

By this time, the sun was coming up and I went on my way, like the cop had told me to do.


© 2016 Buck Ward                        The Photographist                            www.buckward.net

4 comments:

  1. Nice photo journalism, Buck. How sad for the Presli Jo.
    Wonder how it started...and where were her owners? Burning questions!

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  2. Glad to see that you can post comments again without having to remain anonymous, not that I've given you much opportunity lately. I also had that problem when trying to post a comment on a blog.

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  3. I love what you're doing on your site. I was on the Goodreads forum for 50 Books to Read Before You Die and saw your link. I like the way you tell a story using photos. I never thought to do this for my own site. I've been taking photos for years, but never thought to use them to tell a story, just to complement the story. Nice work.

    Michelle
    http://perfectionistwannabe.com

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  4. Thanks, Michelle. It is a photographic blog after all. You know the saying about a thousand words.

    I listed this blog in that topic in the Goodreads 50 Books group (a good while back, I think), even though it's not a literary blog, and most of the others are. Shameless self promotion. Glad I got your attention. :)

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