Great Lakes marina fire impacts 150 boats, causing over $1m damage
Safe Harbor Great Lakes Marina. Image courtesy of Muskegon Professional Firefighters
A fire has broken out at the Safe Harbor Great Lakes Marina in Muskegon, in the US state of Michigan, reportedly causing millions of dollars in damage.
Fire crews were called out to reports of smoke at building 3 of the marina at around 11.21am Monday 6 March, and it was extinguished by around 5.15pm.
Responders have reportedly determined a 39-foot boat in the middle of the building was the source of the fire, but it is still not known exactly how this fire began.
Speaking to Wzzm13 after the fire was extinguished, deputy fire chief Jay Paulson confirmed that every boat in the building — around 150 vessels — had “suffered some type of damage” from the fire, smoke or heat. “Unfortunately, they are all very expensive, very large boats,” he says. Paulson estimates that the damage runs into the “millions of dollars”.
Paulson adds: “It was not a total loss — fire suppression kept the fire in check.”
Only three boats have been completely destroyed. There were no injuries reported.
The boats were inside the building for winter storage during Michigan’s cold season.
“[I’m] bummed out my summer is potentially on hiatus,” boater Matt George, who has stored his boat at Great Lakes for five years, told Wzzm13.
Speaking to WoodTV after the fire, boat owner Travis Nadeau says: “It’s really sad because I have seen a lot of the boats that are in there, and there are just a lot of beautiful boats that have been lost to it.”
The public has been asked to avoid the area. In a Facebook post, The Muskegon Professional Firefighters Union say “many gawkers are attempting to access the property and are getting in the way of fire suppression efforts.”
Safe Harbor Marinas is one of the largest owners and operators of marinas in the United States. Great Lakes marina is located at 1920 Lakeshore Drive, Muskegon, on the banks of Lake Michigan.
In January 2023, a huge fire ripped through a storage facility in the Spanish city of Marbella, with an estimated 80 boats damaged or destroyed.
