On wednesday 10/27/2010 i was contacted by district 9 head quarters and was asked to check into a possible boat fire that may have occurred at brookville reservoir sometime during the previous weekend.  I contacted franklin county dispatch and they stated that there was a boat fire at bonwell ramp sunday morning and the only officers available to respond were from the brookville police department.  I contacted the brookville police department and spoke with  assistant chief who stated that he took the call and ran up to bonwell ramp and made sure there were no injuries and stayed there until the boat was transported away.  Officer stated that the boat operator's name and provided his contact information.  Several days later i was able to make contact with Operator who stated the following:  on sunday october 24, 2010 at approximately 1056 hours he and his family borrowed his father in laws boat and launched it at bonwell ramp.  Operator stated that after they had launched the boat he and his two kids were sitting in it waiting while his wife parked the vehicle.  While we were waiting i started the boat and it drifted about 75 feet from the ramp and then suddenly the back end of the boat exploded into flames causing the engine compartment cover to fly open.  Operator said he and the kids jumped overboard and was picked up by a boater who was nearby and took them to shore.  Operator said that they called 911 and shortly after a brookville police officer arrived and they waited for the fire department.  Operator stated that after the boat quit burning a boater towed it to the ramp and jolliff wrecker service hooked it up and transported it to their facility located at 10211 yellow bank rd., brookville, indiana.  Operator said that the boat was a runabout that had an inboard/outboard type hull design.  Operator stated that he didn't smell any gas fumes prior to starting the boat and didn't think to turn on the exhaust blower before starting it.  Operator further stated that nobody was injured during the incident and that they had the boat out the day before and had no problems with it.  After talking with Operator i drove to jolliff wrecker service and took pictures of the boat hull and spoke with the owner of the business about the boat.  I then contacted (boat owner) and he confirmed that Operator had permission to use the boat and he was aware of what had happened to his boat.  subject stated that the fire caused around $2,000.00 damage to the boat.
Brookville                    