RedactedNarrative: On Sunday June 4th, 2017 at 01:14 PM Ofcs. were conducting boat patrol on vessel 874 in Hungerford creek on the Patuxent river when we received notification of a boat fire. Communications advised that a 24 foot Baja was on fire in Battle creek off of the Patuxent river. The operator was off of the boat and accounted for. Ofc. and I arrived on scene at 01:33 PM. Just into Battle creek we saw a beach with multiple boats on shore and a large group of people. Just across the cove was a red baja fully engulfed in flames. It had drifted across and came to rest on the shoreline. We made contact with a good Samaritan on a jet ski who brought the operator, out to our patrol vessel so we could interview him (please see attachments for written statement).
   
   Operator1 told us that he had the boat beached on the shore of Battle creek for most of the day. He had just been pushed back into the water by his cousin, so he could go pick up some friends from the Saint Mary's shore. The boat started without any problems but when he attempted to put it in gear he heard an explosion and turned around to see the engine hatch had blown open and flames were coming out of the engine compartment. Operator1 was able to get off of the boat without injury. A person operating a jet ski and another person operating a boat used their wakes to push the burning boat away from shore and attempted to extinguish the flames. The burning boat came to rest on the opposite shoreline. Operator1 did acknowledge that he had been consuming alcohol prior to the incident. He was coherent, was able to get from the jet ski onto our vessel without problem, and there was no smell of alcoholic beverages emitting from him. Because of these observations and the fact that consumption of alcohol was not an apparent contributing factor to the boat fire I did not conduct any field sobriety tests.
   
   At approximately 01:45 PM the Calvert County Fire Department arrived on seen by shore and attempted to put the fire out. It wasn't until approximately 01:50 PM that the Calvert County Fire Boat arrived and was able to put out the boat fire. At 02:30 PM I interviewed Aunt, and received a written statement from her (please see attachments). I also interviewed Operator1's cousin, at 02:35 PM (please see attachments). Both witnessed the explosion and their statements corroborated Operator1's statements.
   
   Ofc and I obtained what little boat information that was available, and pictures of the boat on scene. A boat accident report has been completed (please see attachments). As of 11:22 AM on Monday June 5th 2017 the hull of the boat has been removed from the shoreline of Battle creek. There are no charges pending. This incident is closed. All events occurred in Calvert County.