New Rules of Fire Fighting

It was a matter of 15 seconds from the time we smelled the smoke to the time the flames were just billowing,” said Arthur “Kitt” Watson in an interview with NBC Boston after his 70-foot Marlow motoryacht, Elusive, burned on the Piscataqua River near New Castle, New Hampshire, on June 18, 2022. “It was the most frightening, harrowing experience we ever had.” Watson, his wife and the boat’s mate had to swim for their lives, along with the couple’s two dogs. The fire blocked access to the life vests, so the trio used pool noodles as substitute PFDs. All five abandoned ship via the stern platform and were rescued within 10 minutes by other boats, with no serious injuries. The boat, however, engulfed in flames and resisting firefighting efforts by the USCG and local authorities, drifted for two hours until sinking offshore of Kittery, Maine.

Later, Watson told a reporter from the Portsmouth, NH, Herald, “This didn’t come from the engine area, but it came out of our cabins. We could see a fireball coming up the