‘A fireball.’ Fuel vapors likely caused Fort Lauderdale boat explosion, fire rescue says
The boat explosion off Fort Lauderdale on Memorial Day was likely caused by fuel vapors that ignited a flash fire when the boat was started, according to fire officials.
It was like a “fireball,” Frank Guzman, a spokesman for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, told the Miami Herald Tuesday. Guzman said the source of the vapors and ignition is under investigation.
The 39-foot Sea Ray with 15 people on board burst into flames in the Intracoastal Waterway, near the large sandbar by the New River off Fort Lauderdale, around 5:45 p.m. Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard told the Miami Herald. Eleven people — including two young children — were hospitalized with injuries. Some were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s burn unit in Miami, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said.
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Emergency dispatcher communications tell of a chaotic scene with several people in the water and people suffering burn injuries. The injured included two 5-year-old children, a paramedic said on scanner audio reviewed by the Herald.
“A lot of them had burns to much of their body,” Guzman said. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, Guzman said he was not aware of any fatalities.
READ MORE: Multiple people injured in Fort Lauderdale boat explosion, Fire Rescue says
The FWC, which is leading the probe into the incident, responded to the scene at 6 p.m. A Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue investigator was also on scene.
Monday’s blast is at least the second major boat explosion in Fort Lauderdale in the last six months. On Dec. 24, a boat was engulfed in flames after it exploded at Lauderdale Marina while a boater was fueling up, killing a man and injuring five others.
In 2023, the FWC investigated 33 boat fires and explosions, with half of those cases involving fuel, according to the agency’s 2024 annual report.
‘Please don’t let me die’
Bret Triano and Marisa Toomsen were hanging out at the sandbar in the Intracoastal when they saw the boat explode.
“There was this boat trying to leave the sandbar and when they went to start their boat up, it just exploded,” Triano said. “It was a huge fireball and people were kind of falling off the boat, so we ...just tried to go help out.”
After getting a friend to call 911, the two got in their dinghy and pulled a man who was in his 30s out of the water. He was screaming, and his skin was burned “pretty badly,” Toomsen said.
The two good Samaritans got the man to shore, where the Coast Guard was waiting.
“He was saying, ‘Save me, please don’t let me die,’” Triano said.
Another boat catches fire
The Sea Ray was actually the second large boat to go up in flames in South Florida on Memorial Day.
A 48-foot fishing yacht caught fire off Jupiter Inlet Monday afternoon, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Three people were on board the vessel when it caught fire, the Coast Guard said in a statement on X. They were rescued by other boaters in the area who responded to the scene. No one was hurt, according to the Coast Guard.
Miami Herald reporter Pierre Taylor contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 27, 2025 at 11:49 AM.
