RedactedNarrative: On august 15th at approximately 17:50 steuben county emergency personnel responded to a boat fire near the pokagon state park main beach on lake james between the second and third basins.  There were no occupants on the boat and the operator had jumped overboard was picked up by a nearby pontoon boat.
  
      the operator of the boat had just fueled the boat at northwest landing which is located directly west of pokagon's main beach.  Northwest landing staff fueled the boat while the motor was turned off and the engine compartment ventilation blowers were switched on and operating.  Operator paid for the fuel and idled northeast out past the buoys. 
  
      in the area near the north end of pokagon's main beach, and while still operating at idle speed, operator heard a loud boom and observed that the back storage compartment covers had blown blew open and there were flames coming from that area.   Operator dove off the front of the boat and was picked up by a nearby pontoon.   
  
      the boat drifted near the swimming area as angola fire department arrived.  Afd waded out and pulled the boat into shore where they first watered and then utilized foam agents to extinguish the fire.  Prior to extinguishing the fire, the boat as fully engulfed from bow to stern.  Bills professional towing was called and removed the boat from the lake, storing it at the shop location on 200w & us20 in angola.
  
      ico capt. and i inspected the boat at a later time while it was being stored at bills professional towing in angola in order to attempt to find a possible ignition point and fuel source.  The boat had such extensive damage due to the fire that any speculative ignition point was not evident.
  
      the area burnt and charred near the engine compartment was consistently approximately 18" from the bottom of the hull in the bilge.  There was very little actual charring below this line, and the port side of the stern was more effected by the fire than the starboard side.  It appeared that the entire port side of the watercraft was damaged more extensively by fire than the starboard side.  The fuel cell(tank) was intact and was not found to be compromised by the fire.  The fuel tank was  approximately 65% full of gasoline and it did not appear to have water mixed with the fuel.  The output  fuel lines were intact from the fuel tank and uncompromised until they reached an area close to the engine inside the engine compartment.
   