News Release

U.S. Coast Guard 7th District PA Detachment Tampa Bay Contact: Coast Guard PA Detachment Tampa Bay 305-965-4672 PA Detachment Tampa Bay online newsroom

Editor's Note: Click on the images to download high resolution versions.

St. Petersburg, Fla. — The Coast Guard, St. Petersburg Fire Department, and Eckerd College Search, and Rescue responded to vessel fire in Tampa Bay, Florida, Monday.

Coast Guard Station St. Petersburg launched a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boatcrew to respond to a fire on a 34-foot vessel. 

The crew arrived on scene and assisted in putting out the fire. Commercial salvage removed two men from the vessel without injuries. 

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg command center received a call from the Pinellas County Police Department at approximately 10 a.m. with a report of a vessel fire at Pinellas Point.

“Once on scene, we got together with our partner agencies to extinguish the fire and help establish a safety zone to keep other vessel traffic out of harm's way," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Aaron Klipin, the coxswain for Station St. Petersburg. "We also monitored the fire due to the potential for impacting the environment.” 

The vessel's owner was coordinating with commercial salvage for removal operations. 

The Coast Guard reminds boaters to keep aware of fire hazards and stay prepared with functioning smoke detectors, portable fire extinguishers, or onboard fire extinguishing systems.

For more breaking news follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

-USCG-