Yacht Fire Triggers Oil Spill in California

Cleanup efforts are underway after a 105-foot yacht caught fire, capsized and spilled oil in Marina del Rey, Calif., the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The motor yacht The Admiral reportedly went up in flames around 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, and a crew from Los Angeles County Fire Department was able to extinguish the fire. No injuries were reported.

By Thursday morning, the yacht was discovered to be discharging red-dye diesel. The vessel’s fuel capacity is said to be 6,000 gallons.

A Unified Command including members of the Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (CDFW-OSPR) and responsible party to oversee the response efforts.

Coast Guard and CDFW-OSPR teams monitored the deployment of approximately 2,000 feet of boom placed around the vessel and affected areas. Crews will continue to monitor the area and work with the Oil Spill Response Organization through the night to assess the extent of impact and continue clean-up efforts.

“Our Coast Guard team was able to transition quickly from a fire response to an oil spill response, which allowed us to ensure we had the right people and resources mobilized,” said Capt. Stacey L. Crecy, the Coast Guard’s Federal On-Scene Coordinator. “We were able to deploy containment and collection equipment as soon as it was safe to do so to mitigate the impacts from the discharge of diesel from the vessel after it became submerged.”  

“A CDFW-OSPR environmental scientist is on scene working to monitor and limit impacts to environmental resources and sensitive sites,” said Christian Corbo, CDFW-OSPR State On-Scene Coordinator. “Currently, there are no impacts to environmental sensitive sites or species.”

No observations of oiled wildlife have been reported.

Additionally, air monitoring is being conducted within the area. There are currently no reports of a threat to public health.