Tag Archives: Vaca Key Marina
Vaca Key Marina owner’s son: ‘We will rebuild’
Even though the damage caused by a massive fire in Marathon Monday has been devastating to those who lived and work at the Vaca Key Marina, efforts to rebuild are underway. The June 6 fire that tore through the 1-acre bayside marina at mile marker 47.5 destroyed three boats, a house, six forklifts and thousands of lobster traps from 2 to 5:30 a.m. Traffic in both directions was shut down for hours. Capt. Dave Dipre with the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was at the marina Thursday assessing the number of lobster and stone-crab traps lost in the fire and said the actual number is closer to 10,000, contrary to the 20,000 originally reported lost. On the other, unfortunate, hand, what was first thought to be $1 million in estimated damage is now closer to $2 million, said Juan Carlos Berdeal, son of property owner Carlos Berdeal of Miami. click here to read the story 08:21
Massive Marathon marina fire destroys home, three lobster boats, fishing gear
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office credits Deputy Seth Hopp who was driving southbound near 15th Street at 2:35 a.m. When he saw billowing black smoke that was moving from the Vaca Key Marina and called the fire into Sheriff’s dispatchers and pulled in to the parking lot to investigate.,,,When firefighters arrived, they found that the flames had spread to a nearby house on an acre-sized lot filled with wooden lobster traps.,,, With the 37 to 47-foot lobster boats valued at an estimated $150,000 to $300,000 and lobster traps valued at $35 to $40 each, the total damage likely will be more than $1 million. “The traps were stacked 18 to 20 feet high,” Monroe County Fire Rescue Deputy Fire Marshal Craig Marston said. “The [commercial] lobster fishermen were getting them ready to put in the water the first of August for the new season.” click here for video, read the story 17:23
Major marina fire shuts down Overseas Highway in Keys
A massive marina fire in the Florida Keys shut down the Overseas Highway early Monday around Mile Marker 47.5, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. The fire at Vaca Key Marina in Marathon started around 2:30 a.m and burned for several hours, said Deputy Becky Herrin, a sheriff’s spokeswoman. Herrin said firehoses blocked U.S.1, which stretches from Key Largo to Key West. The road reopened to traffic before 8 a.m., according to the sheriff’s office. The call came in as a boat fire, but when firefighters arrived they found a house burning along with an acre lot filled with wooden lobster traps, said Monroe County spokeswoman Cammy Clark. click here to read the story 10:18
