PAGE, Ariz. — Several houseboats caught fire while docked at a marina on Lake Powell Friday afternoon.
Video and photos from Scott Lee showed an estimated 6-8 houseboats consumed by flames at Wahweap Marina, which is located just across the Arizona border.
It's not yet known what caused the fire or if anyone was injured.
Robert Wilkes, the owner of Skylite Houseboat Management, said the fire began in the early afternoon and grew for about an hour and a half. Wilkes, a trained firefighter, used a garden hose and worked with park rangers, who he said arrived soon after the boats ignited, to help put out the fire.
“I started pulling boats off the dock trying to create a gap so it didn’t act like a tree line,” he said.
"Smoke was coming out of the front window and I ran over to open the front door, so yelled inside to ask if anyone was in there," said Benjamin Ferier, who was at the marina when the fire broke out. "Within about 60 seconds, the whole boat was engulfed in flames with orange flames in the sky."
A spokesperson for Aramark Destinations said the fire has been extinguished, and the company is now investigating the cause.
Throughout the spring, boaters have returned their vessels to the marina after an abnormally wet winter elevated lake levels that had previously hit historic lows. More than two million visitors go boating on Lake Powell annually, according to the National Park Service.
Park rangers previously responded to houseboat fires several times in recent years, including in 2022, 2015 and 2011.
