PORT TOWNSEND — A worker was injured when he tried to put out a fire on a 40-foot wooden boat undergoing renovations in the boat yard at Boat Haven on Saturday night.
The worker, who was unidentified, was taken to Jefferson Healthcare hospital.
He appeared to be suffering from smoke inhalation and injured an ankle, according to East Jefferson Fire-Rescue spokesman Bill Beezley.
The bow of the Interprise was moderately damaged, Beezley said.
Firefighters were called to the fire at 9:09 p.m., after Port of Port Townsend security official Pete Parrish heard a man yelling “fire” while on patrol and called 9-1-1, Beezley said.
They knocked the fire down within 15 minutes. No other boats were damaged, Beezley said.
Assistant Chief Brian Tracer said that workers had been using a blowtorch to take old paint off the exterior of the hull when one noticed some embers.
After attempting to put them out with his hand, he eventually grabbed a small fire extinguisher to attack the fire and, at some point, fell some 6 feet to 8 feet off the boat.
Parrish told firefighters he found the worker on the ground amid a jumble of scaffolding and materials and in great pain from an awkward landing after his fall.
Port Townsend Police Officers Patrick Fudally and Jeremy Vergin saw sparks from the fire falling on the prostrate worker below the bow and dragged him to safety before taking him to an ambulance, Beezley said.
Larry Crockett, Port of Port Townsend executive director, told firefighters that the boat had been in the yard undergoing renovations since last fall.