Pontoon Boat After Wildfire

[smoedog]

So my parents were the victims of the Butte Wildfire out in California last month. Thought you guys might be interested in what happens to a 22ft party tracker with a 90hp yamaha after a wild fire. Fire is a weird thing. The Mihandra tractor in the second picture had the trailer hitched up to the bucket. The fire melted the entire pontoon, warped the steel of the trailer, but didnt even melt the plastic headlight lenses of the tractor.

 

[GA_Boater]

Are those rivulets of melted aluminum in the first pic? The shed/garage appears to be untouched, too. Where is the Yammy? Nothing that even looks like a motor or motor pats, except what could be the melted prop at the bottom of the 2nd pic. Fire is strange.

The family is OK?

 

[64osby]

Aluminum burns at over 4,100 K (6920?F), which is why it is used as a component of some solid rocket fuels.

Maybe the hull just took off. :lol:

Sad to see, Hope everyone is okay.

 

[poconojoe]

Sorry to hear their loss. Damn, there's nothing left. You sure there was a boat there!

 

[gm280]

I honestly hope your parents were okay. Fire is interesting and devastating at the same time. I helped a family that had their house burned out. To see things that you would never ever think would melt or burn in blobs was an eye opener. And the amount of deconstruction it takes to remove the burnt smell was also amazing to see. Sorry to hear about your parents though and their obvious loss... :sorry:

 

[smoedog]

Are those rivulets of melted aluminum in the first pic? The shed/garage appears to be untouched, too. Where is the Yammy? Nothing that even looks like a motor or motor pats, except what could be the melted prop at the bottom of the 2nd pic. Fire is strange.

The family is OK?

Sorry I just got back from my parents house, I went out to help them.

Yes those are streams of molten aluminum. The entire boat was gone. On the trailer all you could see of the boat were the steering and throttle cables, as wee as some of the electrical cables running from were the helm used to be back to the motor. As far as the motor all that was left fas the burnt up fiberglass cowling, the block and propshaft and gear case. everything else was just molten metal. The shop in back the entire roof partially collapsed and buckled due to the heat. there was a 10 inch I beam used as an overhead hoist was just bent like a wet noddle. Their whole house was leveled down to about 6-8 inches of debris. It was so hot their quartz countertop must have exploded because we could not find any trace of it.

The damage was insane. Everyone made it out ok which is all that matters.