COVINGTON, La. — On Thursday, St. Tammany Fire Protection District #2 crews monitored a fire that broke out on a boat dock in Covington off of Ox Bow Lane the day before.
The fire started around 4:45AM Wednesday.
Shani Booth's home backs up to the dock that sits on the Tchefuncte River. She said her husband woke her up because he heard explosions.
“We couldn’t feel heat from it, but it was tall because the whole thing was engulfed by the time we woke up," Booth said, “Called 911 and just prayed that it didn’t come to the house.”
A section of woods separate the River Club neighborhood from the dock. St. Tammany Firefighter, Joey Sanders, said preventing the fire from spreading was a 'major concern.'
“We did a great job of stopping it where we did. Prevented it from going into the marsh, because that was another concern with the burn ban and everything being so dry," Sanders said.
Fire crews not only battled dry conditions, but Sanders said they had issues accessing the fire.
“Boats have sunk, we’ve had buildings collapse, there’s areas that were just inaccessible to us," Sanders said.
Firefighters have now determined 18 slips and 13 boats were damaged in the fire. One boat belonged to Booth's husband.
“We were lucky, I’m not going to complain, and nobody got hurt," Booth said.
DEQ was called in and placed a boom on the water to prevent debris and liquid from spreading, Sanders said. Meanwhile, Sanders said they're developing a plan to get the dock demolished and boats out of the water as quickly and safely as possible. Firefighters are urging everyone in St. Tammany Parish to stay vigilant. The parish and state are under a burn ban.
“Everything is hot, everything is dry everything to include people all the way down to pine needles. It just takes a spark of something that is going to create a bad situation," Sanders said.
The State Fire Marshal's Office said the cause of the fire may be electrical, but it's still under investigation.