Man Rescued From Raft After Boat Fire

A Los Angeles man was rescued from a raft by a passing boat after his 38-foot cabin cruiser caught fire and later sank about six miles off of Pt. Vicente, Coast Guard officials reported Tuesday.

Frank Domino, whose boat Stephie was berthed at Dana Point, radioed a Mayday call to the Coast Guard at 11:23 a.m. after he discovered that it boat was on fire, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Leonard Dyal. Domino was the only person aboard the vessel and was not injured in the incident, Dyal said.

After the Coast Guard issued a broadcast urging boaters in the area to watch for smoke from the flaming craft, the Golden West, a University of Southern California research vessel, spotted the boat and rescued Domino from his raft.

“He just put out a distress call and then jumped into his raft,” said Richard Bates, senior ocean lifeguard with the county of Los Angeles.

“We were fighting the fire for about an hour and a half,” Bates said, adding that the boat was still on fire when it sank. He said sea water and foam were used to help smother the flames, but added that a quick response time is usually necessary to prevent a boat from being completely destroyed by fire.

“Anytime you’ve got anything out there mid-channel, it’s pretty well burned by the time you get to it,” he said.

Dyal estimated that lifeguard rescue vessels reached the scene about 25 minutes after Domino’s distress call was issued. “The biggest problem we had is that he didn’t give us an exact location of where he was at,” Dyal said.

Domino, 41, estimated his loss at about $150,000, Dyal said.

The Coast Guard is investigating the fire.