On 4-19-10 Off. responded to a call involving  a boat fire in Wickford Marina, No. Kingstown, RI.  She inspected the boat and found broken cabin windows on port and starboard sides.  Off. interviewed the owner of the boat WHO stated that did electrical work on the boat including charging the batter, reconnecting the batter, and had 3 space heaters on board.  When Off. asked if he did anything unusual that morning, owner said he always shuts everything off, but that he might have left one heater on.  According the Off. inspection, the fire originated near a space heater.  The heater was plugged into an electrical strip in the "on" position and the dial was on high.  The main battery switch in the main control panel  was in the "Both" position and the "Heater" switch as it is labelled was on.  It was concluded based on the fire damage, that the heater remained on and the heat created a fire.
Norh Kingstown                