Early morning boat fire fills Kelowna sky with black smoke

A boat suffered significant damage after catching fire while docked in the Mission this morning.

The Kelowna Fire Department rushed to the scene on the lakeshore off the 4500 block of Eldorado Court around 6:30 am.

First-arriving crews found the boat, which was on a boat lift on a dock around 50 feet from shore, fully engulfed in flames, which were emitting a large plume of black smoke into the sky above Kelowna.

“Crews deployed a supply line to the lake and then attached an attack line to start suppressing the fire,” explained Platoon Captain Shayne Kiehlbauch. “A second crew on Marine Rescue 2 responded and was attacking the fire from the lake.”

When the RCMP arrived, firefighters were already on scene dealing with the flames, but officers spoke to the registered owner of the boat.

According to Cst. Mike Della-Paolera, the owner explained that he heard the motor running from his boat around 1 am, but was unable to turn it off.

"He tried to pull some fuses but eventually gave up and went back to sleep," noted Della-Paolera. "Later the owner woke up and saw the boat was on fire."

The KFD suspects that something linked to the motor running all night overheated and caused the fire, given that it's a water-cooled engine and the boat was lifted out of the lake.

Police confirmed that the dock collapsed due to the fire, but there were no injuries reported.

“A fire like this creates a lot of smoke which can be seen from far away causing concerns for many residents in our community," added Della-Paolera. "The quick response by the KFD eased those concerns."

The incident has been deemed non-suspicious and no further investigation is required, but the Ministry of Environment has been notified.