(Boston Fire Department)
CHARLESTOWN (WBZ-AM) -- A fire tore through three boats at Charlestown's Constitution Marina overnight, sinking two of them and leaving the third heavily damaged.
Boston Fire and Massport were quick to arrive at the scene of the fire around 11:20 p.m. at Tudor Wharf Tuesday. Crews fought the fire from both land and sea throughout the night.
The blaze presented several challenges. Firefighters had limited access to water, and had to stretch long lines of hoses from hydrants hundreds of yards away.
Boston Fire Deputy Chief Robert Calabrisi said the nature of the fire frustrated crews.
"There was some diesel fuel on board one of the larger boats that kept stoking the fire, and as soon as you hit it, it would re-ignite again," he said.
Crews also needed to deploy fire retardant foam to help knock down the fire--so now, the U.S. Coast Guard's environmental group will assess the area.
At least one woman was living on the largest of those vessels, and she managed to escape without injury, Boston Fire said.
"We're just pretty fortunate that no one was hurt, we're quite grateful for that," Calabrisi said. "You can replace a boat, you can't replace a person."
Damages were estimated at $1 million, and there was no word yet on a cause.
WBZ NewsRadio's Chris Fama (@cfama_wbz) reports