Salvage to begin in TD Marina fire after investigation; no cause yet

Finger D at the Port of The Dalles Marina this morning, July 9. Eight houseboats were destroyed and four other boats caught fire and sank here on July 4th.

Here is a still image of the video Kimberly Smith took of the fire and posted via Instagram in the early morning hours of the Fourth of July.

By Tom Peterson

The Port of The Dalles Marina is now in the containment process after a blaze destroyed eight houseboats and sank four boats in the wee hours of the Fourth of July.

A fifth boat also sustained heavy damage but remained afloat.

While no official costs are in yet, it can be easily surmised that the damage will run into the millions of dollars as boat houses have been listing at well over $100,000 in recent years. 

Salvage will likely begin in weeks to come after insurance investigators finalize their reports, according to the Port’s Director Andrea Klaas.

The Port of The Dalles manages the Marina. 

“We expect that the insurance companies will have investigators out early next week so that they can complete their work,” she said. 

No determination on the cause of the fire has been pinpointed yet, she said.

Port of The Dalles Director Andrea Klaas

There were at least two different insurance companies involved in the houseboat losses, and Klaas hoped the companies would come to an agreement to use the same salvage contractor to begin the work of removing debris and sunken boats.

A barge and crane capable of removing material will be needed to complete the work.

US Ecology, a private contractor out of Portland, has contained the site at this point and done some reconaisance underwater, locating where boats sank. The company is providing environmental clean-up. 

“It’s going good,” said US Ecology’s Jason Potts on Friday, July 9, after spending a week onsite. “It’s all been contained.” He said it was a three-step process - containment, salvage and then restoration.

Klaas said the other good news was that the fire was officially out and there are no active spills of fuel occurring from damaged boats in the marina.

Dock Damage

“We need to figure out first how much of the docks actually burned and how much can be salvaged,” Klass said. “We will have to have a marine engineer come and make an assessment and decide what needs to be replaced, repaired, or refurbished.”

The rest of the marina was fully operational, she said. 

Klass said US Ecoolgoy would do an entire clean-up of the marina that is related to the fire. 

“There is a lot of charred material in the marina and it will be cleaned up in the time they are here,” she said. 

See CCCNews original story on the fire by clicking here.