WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. — Divers are working to remove a 128-foot fishing boat that caught fire and sank off Whidbey Island over the weekend.
Fire departments with the Coast Guard, Camano Island and Whidbey Island responded to the fire around 11:45 p.m. Saturday when a dispatcher received a report that the vessel Deep Sea, inPenn Cove, was engulfed in flames.
Crews attempted to put out the fire, but stopped when water sprayed on the boat caused the Deep Sea to list, according to officials.
The derelict fishing boat sank around 6 p.m. Sunday.
Containment booms were already in place to prevent fuel from spreading.
The Department of Natural Resources said that as much as 100 gallons could be on board.
Locals said the boat appeared about five months ago when someone left it there in the middle of the night.
The boat's owner has been fined more than $83 a day since March 13 because he has not moved the vessel.
Ian Jefferds, General Manager of Penn Cove Shellfish, said he has suspended the mussel harvest through at least Tuesday as a precaution while investigators figure out whether the fuel has affected the mussel beds.