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Fuel leak causes harbor blast
by Jason Dietrich
Late-sleeping live-aboards were shaken out of their berths Thursday morning when a commercial fishing boat exploded in the Redondo Beach Marina.
Bruce Kohmann, one of the boat's owners, suffered minor first-degree burns and singed hair in the blast. His partner, Mike Patterson, was soggy after jumping overboard, but otherwise unharmed.
The "Creature," a 20-foot Seaway fishing boat, sank shortly after the 9:30 a.m. The explosion was probably caused by a leaking fuel line or electric fuel pump, according to Redondo Beach Fire Chief Pat Aust.
"It was quite a boom. It knocked me senseless. It blew the cabin doors open and sent a flash of heat right past me," Kohmann said.
Boat fires are relatively common in watercraft with inboard motors, especially gasoline motors. Several are reported in the Redondo Harbor each year, said Aust. Vapor leaking from the fuel system is trapped in an enclosed cabin, and all it needs is a spark to set it off. Explosions that destroy an entire boat are less common.
"It happens. You hear about it a couple of times a year at harbors up and down the coast. It just happened to be our turn this year," said Lt. John Pitzer of the Harbor Patrol. The harbor hasn't had a fuel explosion since a boat caught fire at the fuel docks about five years ago, Pitzer said.
Kohmann and Patterson had taken out their first load of lobster traps in anticipation of the commercial lobster season opening October 4. They were heading out with a second stack when a spark from the fuel pump ignited the mixture of fuel and air that had been building up in the boat's enclosed cabin.
"I was about 50 feet out of the slip, and up she went," Kohmann said. "There were no indications of problems. It was a total surprise."
Opening hatches to air out a boat's cabin and turning on the below-deck blower system are standard procedures when starting an inboard gas engine. Authorities don't know exactly what went wrong when the "Creature" pulled away from the dock.
"The systems are only designed to work under normal conditions. If a fuel line develops a leak and sprays the bilge with gas, a blower isn't necessarily going to prevent an explosion. It was just the right set of circumstances," Aust said.
The fishermen abandoned ship after the explosion. Patterson, who had been standing on the engine hatch, was thrown into the air.
"From the horror stories I've heard we're lucky to be alive and not horribly injured. It all happened so fast there wasn't time to think other than just 'Get off the boat!'" Kohmann said.
The Redondo Beach Fire Department extinguished the flames with help from nearby boaters and the Harbor Patrol. The "Creature" sank as it was being towed to the boat hoist, but was hauled out by a barge-mounted crane. Kohmann, who had the boat for 17 years, said he and Patterson would scrap the boat. They are trying to find a replacement in time to fish the lobster season. ER