Boat burns on channel

Fast thinking and action may have saved a fisherman’s life Jan. 31. Annie Drake and Sandy Smith, sisters, called 911 at 1:50 p.m. when they saw a boat on fire in the Swinomish Channel across from Drake’s home on Channel Drive, about three miles north of La Conner. Within minutes they had Drake’s kayak in the water and she paddled out to the crabbing boat. Fire was consuming the cabin.

Drake said when she looked out on the channel she saw fire and “it was exploding.”

Drake recounted: “I called him to get in the water. He couldn’t swim. He won’t put on a life jacket. His hands were cramped. It was a pretty frigging scene.” She said “I took my kayak out there. He jumped on the back and lay on his stomach without a life jacket.”

She was worried he would go into shock so kept talking to him. “I just wanted him to talk to me,” she said.

Drake, a volunteer firefighter with La Conner Hook and Ladder for about one-and-a-half years, noted “we don’t do canoe training – kayak training.” Kymber Self, a friend, chimed in “there’s no training for that kind of rescue. You just do what you can in the heat of the moment – no pun intended.”

Smith was concerned about the fisherman, saying “poor guy. That’s how he makes his living. His crab pots are ruined. But he’s safe.”

Self was grateful he lived. “There was nobody here. If they hadn’t thought of bringing her kayak here … He was so cramped up. He wouldn’t have made it.

The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office marine unit, Fire District 13’s Fire Station One, La Conner Hook and Ladder and the Swinomish Tribal Police Department patrol boat were dispatched to the fire.

Sargent Tobin Meyer brought the Sheriff Department’s boat up the channel from the La Conner Marina, arriving 2:07 p.m.. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community boat came shortly after. Both shot water into the boat and pushed the boat close to shore with their water cannons. Two Fire District 13 trucks on the scene since 2 p.m. pumped water into the approximately 32 foot wooden 1940’s diesel- powered crab boat once it was in range. Its cabin was gone, burned to the deck.

Meyer reported the fire extinguished at 2:21 p.m. The first responders continued to pour water into the boat. Smoke continued to smolder past 3:05 p.m. Fire fighter Jason Withers started spraying foam mid-ship, around the exhaust pipe, in response to blue smoke, probably coming from the engine. That foam blanket was meant to smother the fuel fire.

Shortly after 3:15p the fire fighters started unhooking their hoses from their trucks.

It was 85 minutes after Drake called 911.

Tony Cladoosby, the crabber, was reported by Meyer to have hypothermia but no other injuries were noted. An EMS crew from the Anacortes Fire Department provided medical aid. Transportation to a hospital was not necessary.

Later staff from Skagit County Department of Environmental Management and the Washington Dept. of Ecology came out to assess and respond to any environmental concerns.

Monday morning the sunken boat was still secured to boulders on the east shore of the channel. A half dozen crab pots were by the side of the road; the top pots of the remaining stack stood above the water in the boat.

There is speculation that a leaky exhaust ignited the fuel and that Cladoosby’s life jacket was in the cabin and burned.