More than 100 firefighters helped put out the flames fully engulfing the yacht Flagship at RMK-Merrill Stevens over the weekend. Though no one reportedly suffered injuries, the yacht was destroyed.
According to fire officials, a fire crew arrived at the shipyard around 11 a.m. local time on April 28, responding to reports of a fire. The yacht was in the water, under a covered structure. “The flames were very intense,” says Pete Sanchez, a Miami Fire lieutenant. A lot of smoke was billowing from the fire as well. The initial fire crew determined more help was necessary, so a call went out for a second fire unit to arrive. Ultimately, 34 fire units battled the flames and smoke. Sanchez tells reporters that since the yacht Flagship partly relied upon battery power, “that is obviously fueling the flames.”
Fire crews were able to move the megayacht out from the covered area to extinguish the fire. Sanchez further notes that RMK-Merrill Stevens personnel indicated the yacht had little fuel in her tanks. As standard precaution, the fire department notified the Coast Guard in case runoff occurred. No damage occurred to other vessels at the shipyard.
The yacht Flagship just arrived at the shipyard last week. RMK-Merrill Stevens shared a video of her on social media on April 22:
Flagship is a VisionF 82 project, a semi-custom series offering hybrid propulsion and solar panels on the hardtop. The all-aluminum series, built in Turkey, is also available with entirely electric propulsion. Regardless of choice, solar panels are standard, feeding a battery bank to power air conditioning, lighting, and other hotel loads. The hybrid catamaran series premiered in 2022.
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