Employee of Massachusetts yacht club helps people escape raging boat fire
A woman who works at a Massachusetts yacht club has been recognized by local officials for helping 10 people
By Emily Maher and Russ Reed
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BRAINTREE, Massachusetts (WCVB) — A woman who works at a Massachusetts yacht club has been recognized by local officials for helping 10 people, including four children, avoid catastrophic injuries after the boat they were on went up in flames.
Kaitlyn, who works at the Metropolitan Yacht Club in Braintree, said she had just finished fueling up the 32-foot boat at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday when she could hear the vessel cranking.
“They had just topped off, so they were holding about 300 gallons of gasoline,” Kaitlyn said. “Upon starting the port motor of the boat, it wasn’t turning over.
“I had yelled over: ‘Hey! Did you turn your blowers?’ and before I had even said ‘on,’ I heard the ‘whoosh’ of the explosion that had just occurred in front of me,” she added.
Kaitlyn said she first saw smoke and quickly started trying to get the children to safety while urging the adults to get off the boats.
“It was a ticking time bomb. We needed everybody off,” she said.
Kaitlyn’s father, a retired Braintree police officer, was at the dock and heard screaming. He ran over as Kaitlyn was helping everyone off the burning boat.
“He said: ‘What do you need?’ I said: ‘Get this thing out of here, please,'” Kaitlyn said. “He had then run down the dock, grabbed my boat and whipped it around the corner.”
Kaitlyn’s father then tied a line from her boat to the burning boat and towed it away from the docks. A Braintree Fire Department captain said the retired police officer was able to tow the burning boat about 300 yards away from the yacht club. By the time the fire department’s boat arrived at the scene, the burning vessel was engulfed in flames.
While her father pulled the burning boat away from the fueling dock, Kaitlyn called 911 and raced to hit the emergency shutoff switch for the fuel. She then tended to the people who were on the boat until first responders arrived to help them.
“Accidents happen. It was in no way his fault and there’s nothing you can do about it now,” Kaitlyn said. “I’m just glad they’re all OK.”
“This had the potential to be a catastrophic situation, but the quick thinking of the young woman at the fuel dock to hit the emergency shutoff and the actions of the retired officer pulling the boat away from the dock prevented that from happening,” the captain told NewsCenter 5 on a phone call.
“I would like to commend our retired police officer and his daughter for their heroic actions at Metropolitan Yacht Club today. I would also like to commend our fire and police departments and their marine units for their exceptional performance in handling this situation,” reads a statement from Braintree Mayor Charles Kokoros.
The fire captain said five people, including two children, were transported to area hospitals to be treated for burns and smoke inhalation. Everyone who was on board that boat is now doing OK.
The burning boat eventually capsized and sank on Saturday. It has since been removed from the water and is now being stored on land.
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