Patrick Leblanc said he didn’t have to think twice about springing into action when he saw a boat catch fire in New Brunswick’s Pointe-du-Chêne wharf.
He said the boat’s engine wasn’t starting, so he and his friends Don Leblanc and Mitch Gaudete went to help out the owner, who is a friend of Leblanc’s.
“I saw he was trying to start his motor so I figure I’m going to get my Sea-Doo and tow him to his dock,” Leblanc said
“As soon as I got the Sea-Doo … I looked up and boom! The boat exploded.”
He said the boat was quickly engulfed in flames, and he saw his friend jump into the water.
According to Shediac RCMP Cpl. Nick Layton, the owner and sole occupant of the boat quickly jumped in the water and was transported to the Moncton Hospital by an ambulance.
He said the engine exploded, causing the fire, and there was no criminal investigation.
The boat’s owner is recovering from burns and has no life-threatening injuries.
“The wind was pushing (the boat) toward the Yacht Club. We just had to get it out of there,” Leblanc said of the fire on Sunday.
He said “adrenaline kicked in”, and everything happened within five minutes.
“I clipped my Sea-Doo rope, towed (the boat) a little bit and I saw it was engulfed in flames,” Leblanc said.
He said his cord was only four feet so he took it off and looked for a longer rope.
He said got a longer rope from another boat.
“It was too hot, so I tried a couple times and said, ‘I have to go in the water,'” Leblanc said.
He dove into the water and tied the rope on.
Once he was back on his Sea-Doo, he and his friends towed the burning boat farther away from the other boats.
Shediac fire Deputy Chief Julien Boudreau said by the time they arrived on the scene near 12:10 p.m. on Sunday, the boat had already been towed away by the personal watercraft users.
General wharf manager Victor Cormier said the three men are “heroes” who may have saved the entire wharf from burning down.
Boudreau said the men had no way of knowing there wouldn’t be subsequent explosions.
“To put your life on your line to save other boaters, they’re heroes. They’re heroic,” Cormier said.
Boudreau said the Shediac Fire Department monitored the fire along with the coast guard until the boat drifted closer to shore before 5 p.m., allowing them to extinguish the fire.
“It was offshore, there was no risk to boats or infrastructure so we didn’t have any reason to go put it out. Of course, we aren’t equipped for it,” Boudreau said in an interview on Monday.
He said the Shediac’s Fire Department doesn’t have boats or the equipment necessary to fight fires on the water.
He said fires on the water have been a very rare occurrence in his 16-year career with the department.
He said there are two reasons they don’t have a boat.
“Any boat rescues or boat incidents would be in (the Canadian Coast Guard’s) jurisdiction, not ours,” he said.
“We did not, until now, have the capacity to have any more equipment than we already have because we’re limited in space in our fire station.”
He said renovations began on Monday to allow them to double the size of the fire station.
He said there were no immediate plans to acquire boats.
Cormier said he will be meeting with stakeholders to recommend some changes to be prepared for any future possible fires.
“I’m going to be recommending some minor changes. If everybody gets together and pulls together we should have a solution in place.”