On October 20th, 2010, operator who was also the owner and sole occupant of the vessel, a 37' sea ray, aft cabin, reported he was crusing from blind river toward pass manchac in lake maurepaus, when he heard a few "pops" and then a very loud "boom" from the engine compartment. He reports that he saw a small but noticeable amount of smoke emitting from one of the vent areas of the vessel and went to investigate. The starboard motor had reportedly quit running but the port engine was reportedly still running. When he raised the cover of the twin e.f.i. 454 c.i. engines, he was hit with a "flash fire" that reportedly singed his hair and resulted in 1st degree flash burns to his arms and neck. Operator reportedly dropped the anchor and attempted to fight the fire with a large handheld fire extinguisher. After emptying the extinguisher he grabbed his cell phone and two child size pfd's and abandoned the vessel as it was becoming engulfed in flames. The built in halon fire extinguishing system reportedly failed. The operator could not offer any reasonable explanation as to what may have caused the fire. The vessel had reportedly not had any recent work done to it and according to the owner/operator, the engine area was kept "spotless". Operator reported that he had just refuled the vessel but he does not believe any fuel spilled into the bilge area. He reports that he runs his ventilation fans continuously while operating the vessel and believes the ventilation fans were in proper working order. The vessel sank and was not found until approximately 4:05 p.m.. On 10/21/10. Further investigation is being conducted by the louisiana state fire marshall's office and is led by agent. The vessel is insured by sea safe insurance co, for an amount reported to be $175,000. They will also be investigating the incident. 

Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in this incident and no citations are expected to be written by ldwf.

MANCHAC                       