Explosion, Fire Rip Yachts : Badly Burned Man Leaps in Sea; Three Boats at Marina Destroyed

As horrified residents watched from their bay-front yards, a dramatic pre-dawn fire Tuesday destroyed three yachts docked near million-dollar homes in Huntington Harbour Marina and seriously injured one man who jumped from his boat in flames.

Witnesses said the 2:26 a.m. fire erupted after a loud explosion on one of the boats, and flames quickly spread to two others as thick black smoke covered the area for several frightening minutes.

“I lifted my head and I saw lights and heard an explosion,” said Scott Ross, 29, who was asleep on his boat nearby. “I saw a man run out and dive into the water. He was on fire.”

That man, Dempsey Stoker, 36, said he was working on the generator of his boat, Cynthia Ann, when the explosion occurred. He suffered second- and third-degree burns over 30% of his body and was listed in serious condition at the UCI Medical Center burn unit.

“I remember looking down and opening up a gas can. Then I remember being launched or sucked to the back of the boat,” Stoker said from his hospital bed. “I knew the boat was burning and that I was on fire so I walked to the front and jumped into the water.

“I’m feeling tremendously lucky to be alive.”

Stoker said he was planning to pour a mixture of gasoline and oil into the faulty generator and speculated that fumes from the mixture may have been ignited by a portable heater.

Stoker’s boat, a 58-foot-long Hatteras worth about $350,000, sunk to the bottom of the harbor where it will remain until crews can dredge it out.

Residents and boat owners said “total confusion and panic” filled the marina while the fire raged.

“The smoke was so just so thick,” Ross said. “I didn’t know if our boats across the way were going to catch fire so I considered jumping into the water at one point. If the smoke hadn’t cleared, I would have jumped.”

Once the smoke cleared, Ross said, he saw one of the flaming boats float away from the dock and collide with another.

“It was like a movie,” he recalled. “The smoke cleared and all of a sudden there’s this boat and it just crashes into this other one. I’ll never forget the way it sounded. They were just totally engulfed in flames.”

Residents in the marina, where 60-foot yachts are common, began washing down the decks of their homes with water in case the fire spread. Many said the loud explosion had rocked them out of their sleep.

“It sounded like bombs exploding,” said 64-year-old Mary Slauson, whose waterfront home was near the fire. “I threw on a trench coat and ran outside and saw all those beautiful boats burning,” she said. “I was scared all night.”

Scott Rubio, 34, who was asleep on his boat, said: “I heard the explosion, looked out my window and saw one of the boats in flames. The fire kept jumping and catching other boats on fire.”

A friend called Vic Stollberg at his home about 3 a.m. to warn him about the fire, which was burning only two boat slips away from his boat, Shangri-La.

“Someone called, said there had been an explosion and that I should go and move my boat,” Stollberg, 69, said. “If I hadn’t moved it, I believe it would have caught fire. The flames were so bright. For awhile there, it looked like an entire row of boats was going to go up in flames.”

Stollberg, whose boat sustained minimal damage, said he still planned to make a scheduled trip to Catalina on the boat Thursday.

“I just wish I would have gone to Catalina a few days earlier,” he said as he prepared to clean the ashes off of his boat. “I would have preferred to have missed the whole thing.”

Juliana Murphy, whose father’s $500,000 boat was docked next to Stocker’s, arrived at the scene of the fire Tuesday morning and stood stunned near the charred dock.

“Oh God, everything is gone, there’s nothing left,” she said sadly.

Her father’s 55-foot boat, Taja, not only burned but also sunk halfway into the water before its descent was stopped by emergency crews. The vessel was probably completely destroyed, officials said.

Murphy, 22, said her entire family had been at the harbor only two weeks ago painting the boat, which she said her father used almost every weekend.

“If it had to happen, it’s a good thing there was no one on it,” Murphy said. “If this had happened on a weekend when there are all kinds of families who spend the night on their boats, there probably would have been a loss of life. It would have been a tragedy.”

Mike McGregor, a security guard who was on duty at the marina, suffered minor burns on his hands and an arm when he pushed a boat away from the blaze, saving it from any damage.

Two firefighters and a sheriff’s deputy suffered from smoke inhalation while battling the blaze and were briefly hospitalized, Huntington Beach arson investigator Rick Grunbaum said.

In all, 51 firefighters from Huntington Beach, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Newport Beach and the Orange County fire departments were called to the scene.

“It was fairly dangerous for firefighters because the dock was caving in with fire personnel standing on it,” said Brad Haney, whose company, Vessel Assist, was called out in the middle of the night to try to save boats.

“This is one of the bigger fires of its kind that I’ve seen and it was especially dangerous because it was jumping from boat to boat,” Haney said. “It could have been a real disaster and gone through the entire marina.”

The Coast Guard and California Fish and Game Department also were called to address any possible environmental problems such as fuel leaks, Grunbaum said.

Absorbent booms were set up around the fire area by hazardous-materials crews to keep fuel and sewage from getting into the harbor. Grunbaum said the effort was successful.

Officials estimate that the fire, which took about an hour to contain, caused more than $1 million in damage. The official cause is still under investigation.

“The boat where the fire originated is still at the bottom of the harbor,” Grunbaum said. “Until a crew gets it out, we won’t know exactly what caused the fire.”