Responded to the report of a boat fire on Elbow Lake.  Before arrival, dispatch notified me that the fire was out and there were no injuries.  Upon arrival, the only person left on the boat was the operator.  The Operator explained that the boat motor began to give him trouble and he believed he was out of fuel. 

 More fuel was delivered and poured into the internal fuel tank.  The motor restarted but the operator noticed that it appeared the gauges on the console were acting erratically.  A short time later the motor caught on fire.  

The operator used the fire extinguisher on board the boat but it did not entirely extinguish the fire.  Several other boats in the area came to their aid and took the passengers off the boat.  A second fire extinguisher was obtained and used on the burning outboard motor.  A third boat provided a third fire extinguisher and once that was used on the still burning motor, the fire was extinguished.  The anchor was also used to keep the boat from drifting into shore.  I boarded the vessel and discovered the battery cables leading to the motor were obviously burned and it appeared they were shorting out causing the battery to become hot.  I disconnected the battery cables from the battery.  The boat was towed to a dock where I met with all the people on board the boat during the incident.  I obtained the boat information as well.  No injuries occurred during this incident.  The outboard motor was a total loss.  Minor burn/melting of the immediate stern area of the boat caused by the heat from the burning outboard.

ELBOW L
Millinocket                   