NEGAUNEE TOWNSHIP, MI-- A fire led to the evacuation of passengers from a boat on the Dead River Basin in Negaunee Township Thursday.
The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched around 8:10 p.m. and found the 19-foot Seadoo fully engulfed upon arrival.
The owner—Ryan Hammack, 28, of Marquette—said he and three passengers were about half a mile from the boat launch when he noticed smoke coming from the instrument panel. He checked the engine compartment and saw even more smoke. Hammack used a fire extinguisher on the engine, but it didn’t work. A passerby in another boat was flagged down and another fire extinguisher was used, with no success.
All passengers on Hammack’s boat were transferred to the second boat and taken to shore. No injuries were reported.
Deputies took firefighters to the vessel, which had blown to the shore of an unnamed island west of the boat launch. The fire was eventually extinguished.
