Crews battled a raging fire that engulfed a yacht Tuesday morning at a boat yard in Riviera Beach, which also delayed a cruise ship from docking at the Port of Palm Beach for about three hours.
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Chopper 5 flew over the scene around 11 a.m. and spotted multiple fire trucks continuing to put out hot spots at the Cracker Boy Boat Works, next to the Riviera Beach City Marina.
MORE: Chopper 5 photos from the scene
Update fire crews are rotating and keeping a close eye on the burning vessel. Video Courtesy of Master-PIO Watson pic.twitter.com/ra9O3DKxj9
— RBFR Master PIO-87 (@RBFRMPIO87) May 7, 2019
A closer look at the #yachtfire in #RivieraBeach #Florida @WPBfire assisting with extinguishing the flames and protecting other boats. @WPTV @ArthurMondale pic.twitter.com/VpMiwWsa7u
— EricP_WPTV (@PhotogEricP) May 7, 2019
Earlier on Tuesday morning, large flames could be seen shooting from the boat.
Just after 9 a.m., a spokesperson for Riviera Beach Fire Rescue said the fire was under control, and crews were waiting for it to burn itself out completely. The boat is sitting on stilts, and they don't want to cause it to collapse by adding even more water weight.
Firefighters were able to contain the blaze by creating a water curtain on both sides of the vessel with fire hoses. There are no injuries and no further damage to neighboring vessels besides smoke.
PHOTOS: Large yacht engulfed by flames in Riviera Beach https://t.co/TMLkCkcbu6 pic.twitter.com/jn9mv1x77M
— WPTV (@WPTV) May 7, 2019
"Anytime you have any type of water vessel that's on fire, most of those vessels are made out of fiberglass or other types of synthetic materials," said DaWayne Watson, Master PIO for Riviera Beach Fire Rescue. "So it’s going to put off a heavy black smoke. Just for safety precautions, we like to isolate different areas so that the smoke doesn’t affect cruise ships coming in or other vessels."
Riviera Beach Fire Rescue and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue worked together to battle the blaze. No firefighters were reported injured.
A cruise ship was scheduled to dock at the Port of Palm Beach at 8 a.m., but was delayed for about three hours. The ship, which had about 600 passengers aboard, finally docked by 10:45 a.m.
Heavy, black smoke could be seen for miles in Palm Beach County much of Tuesday morning.
It is unclear who owns the yacht.
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