GULF SHORES, AL – A 42-foot Hatteras is considered a total loss after catching fire in Gulf Shores about 9 p.m. on July 30.

“They were having engine problems coming down the Intracoastal Waterway,” Battalion Chief Kevin Tolbert said. “He’d been having engine problems all day. As she was underway he started hearing some crackling in the engine bay and started seeing smoke. Pretty much immediately he saw some flames and they all bailed off the boat and swam to shore. It drifted on down.”

Other boaters and citizens on shore helped fire crews get the boat to shore to try and fight the blaze.

“Once we got there the boat was smoking and drifting down the Intracoastal Waterway,” Tolbert said. “We got on the boat and there weren’t many flames at that time and they tried to put it out with fire extinguishers. But there was no way to really get it knocked down and it went ahead and caught fire to where it wasn’t stopping.”

Tolbert said the current was a hindrance in the battle to stop the fire.

“We were able to get it pulled over to the shoreline, but once it became fully involved there wasn’t any stopping it,” he said. “Everything above didn’t completely burn to the waterline, but it was a total loss.

“No one was hurt. That’s the main thing.”

Otherwise, Tolbert said, crews in Gulf Shores weren’t near as busy as during a typical summer weekend.

Orange Beach Chief Shane Phillips, the Battalion Chief for the Saturday shift, said he crews worked lots of calls but there were few serious incidents.

“I don’t think had but two or three people transported to the hospital,” Phillips said.