WATCH: A dramatic scene on the water in False Creek this afternoon after two people rescued from a burning sailboat. Catherine Urquhart reports.
A boat fire in False Creek, near Science World, has now been extinguished.
The 30-foot boat caught fire around 12:30 p.m. Several boats with hoses and pumps tried to put out the flames until the Vancouver Police Department Marine Unit arrived on scene.
One person was taken to hospital with burns and another man escaped injury.
The two occupants were not the owners of the boat and Vancouver Fire 1st Battalion chief Ron MacDonald said they’re calling it “a pirate ship because it had no known owner and had been taken over by transients.”
Fire crews were warned by other agencies on the scene that there may be a “significant amount of needles on board,” MacDonald said.
The boat has been towed to shore and crews are using containment booms to keep any diesel fuel from spreading.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The Vancouver Fire Department says two fireboats were initially called out, but only one was deployed.
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