Captain and his dog escape boat fire southwest of Ottawa
Captain and his dog escape boat fire southwest of Ottawa
The captain of a boat safely made it back to shore after his vessel caught fire and sank in the middle of a lake southwest of Ottawa this weekend.
The 60-year-old man was out for a leisurely boat ride with his dog on Saturday when the 30-foot vessel caught fire in the Rideau Ferry area.
"We saw the smoke from the boat launch at the yacht club and just decided to check it out," said Mason Cassell, describing the fire in the middle of the Rideau Lake.
Cassell said he headed out to try to help, but it wasn't safe to approach the burning vessel.
"Pretty scary and we stayed pretty far back because we didn't want to get caught in an explosion of the gas tanks," Cassell said.
Kayla Gilfillen said they saw "lots of black heavy, heavy smoke" in the middle of the lake.
Ontario Provincial Police say the captain and his dog were able to abandon ship and make it back to shore safely.
"He did make efforts to extinguish the fire once he was alerted due to the fire alarm on board," OPP Acting Sgt. Erin Cranton said Sunday. "There was another boat nearby that offered aid in the way of a fire extinguisher to try to put the fire out prior to the fire crew arriving."
The man suffered minor burns in the fire. Cranton said his dog is in good condition.
Zachary Reynolds-Middleton says a bunch of boats crowded around the burning vessel, trying to help.
"We saw them arriving as the boat was sinking."
Charred debris from the boat was washing up on the shore on Sunday, and police say the sunken boat will be recovered from the lake. The Ministry of Environment has been notified of the incident.
"A large amount of that fuel did burn off from the fire," Cranton said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but the OPP says there is nothing to indicate the fire is suspicious.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
FBI seized 'top secret' documents from Trump home
The FBI recovered documents that were labelled 'top secret' from former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to court papers released Friday after a federal judge unsealed the warrant that authorized the unprecedented search this week.

Anne Heche legally dead, remains on life support for donor evaluation
Anne Heche remains on life support and under evaluation for organ donation after a car crash that led to her brain death, a representative for the actor said Friday.
Passengers tackle Canadian man after he became violent, tried to open plane doors mid-flight
A plane bound for Toronto has been forced to divert to Iceland after a Canadian man allegedly became violent and tried to open the aircraft door mid-air.
Author Salman Rushdie stabbed on lecture stage in New York
Salman Rushdie, whose novel 'The Satanic Verses' drew death threats from Iran's leader in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York.
Canadian who sold his possessions, used up his savings to deliver aid in Ukraine makes a plea for help
Canadian Adam Oake is among volunteers delivering aid to civilians in Ukraine, but he says donations are drying up and he's issuing a plea for help.
Canadian universities earned record-high surplus revenues during COVID-19: StatCan
Canadian universities reported record-high surplus revenues in wake of the pandemic as schools took advantage of last year's strong stock market performance.
EXCLUSIVE | Woman who was stalked by police officer ex-boyfriend says justice system failed her
Despite a police misconduct probe that found a high-ranking B.C. officer had stalked and harassed his ex-girlfriend for years, a criminal investigation into the case did not result in charges.
Canada to test wastewater for polio
Canada plans to start testing wastewater for poliovirus in a number of cities “as soon as possible” following new reports of cases abroad, the Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed on Friday.
The Arctic is warming at nearly double the rate previously estimated: study
New research suggests that the Arctic is warming alarmingly faster than what current scientific literature and media sources have reported.