The Noroton Volunteer Fire Department took to the sea on Sunday afternoon after it received a call that a boat, owned by a Darien resident, was engulfed in flames on Long Island Sound. The respondents extinguished the fire and the owner was transported safely back to the shore. The boat did not.

At about 1:40 p.m. the department received an alarm from the Darien Police Department dispatch desk about a boat fire near the Greens Ledge Lighthouse.

Six members of the volunteer fire department responded from Ziegler’s Cove in the department’s fire rescue boat, a 27-foot custom-built Boston Whaler.

Responding to the fire were, 2nd Assistant Chief Jim O’Brien, Capt. George Rozanovich, Lt. Ray Buxton, and firefighters Phil Andrianus, Mike Burkhart Jr. and Greg Geraci.The department’s boat was the first emergency response vessel on the scene, encountering a 25-foot power boat with its engine compartment and stern fully engulfed in flames.

Rozanovich reported that because of the unusually calm sea and clear skies on that day, the heavy black smoke from the fire was immediately visible not only to the department’s boat, but probably to much of the nearby shoreline communities.

Twelve minutes after arriving, the crew had extinguished the flames. The fire boat’s deluge gun and additional hand lines were required to put out the fire.
Nobody was injured and the boat’s owner was transported to shore by Darien Marine Police, which also responded to the incident. Unfortunately for the boat’s owner, the boat capsized and sunk to the bottom of the Sound.

“We responded swiftly and the guys did a fantastic job,” O’Brien said. “It’s attributed to our training and service to the town.”

The department keeps its fire rescue boat in water year round just for this and any other type of emergency. To maintain the proficiency of its all-volunteer staff, the department conducts drills throughout the year in all areas of water rescue.

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