PROTECTION ISLAND — Three men were rescued by passing fishermen from a boat out of Port Townsend that was still burning in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Wednesday night and was expected to sink.
Rob Sutherland said the three men on the bow of a burning and listing 65-foot shrimping vessel were ready to jump into the water to escape the blaze when he pulled his 17-foot fishing vessel up to the bow and plucked them to safety Wednesday afternoon.
“They were getting cooked,” Sutherland said.
“The whole boat was engulfed in flames and they were ready to jump, it was so bad.”
The three men remained unidentified as of Wednesday night.
Sutherland said they had rushed to the bow of the Kemo Sabay — owned by Scott Kimmel, who runs New Day Fisheries Inc. of Port Townsend — without grabbing flotation devices after a propane tank exploded and set the boat aflame.
“They were still in all their fishing gear,” Sutherland said.
“They would have gone straight to the bottom. Thank God we were around.”
Saw smoke
Sutherland, his brother, William Trevor Green, and uncle, Donald Austin, saw plumes of black smoke billowing in the distance just before 5 p.m. Wednesday.
They headed in the direction of the smoke and saw the three men waving their arms wildly in the air.
Sutherland’s boat was so close when he pulled the men from the burning vessel that the canvas roof on his own boat now has a hole burned through it.
“We were getting cooked when we got them aboard,” he said.
“But it was a good thing we were there, because absolutely no one else was around.”
Sutherland gave the men water and called the Coast Guard before heading toward Port Townsend.
Propane tank exploded
On the way, the rescued men told him that their shrimping vessel began listing and a propane tank had fallen over and exploded, catching the cabin on fire.
The rescued men said they were the only people aboard.
Before they reached Port Townsend, Sutherland waved down a state Fish and Wildlife boat, which took the men to shore.
Once upon land, the three men were treated by East Jefferson Fire-Rescue.
One of the men was burned badly and was taken by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Fire crews aboard the district’s marine unit and Coast Guard rescue boats attempted to extinguish the blaze to no avail.
Keppie Keplinger, spokeswoman for the fire district, said the boat continued to burn in the Strait on Wednesday night and would eventually sink.
The names of the men were not released by East Jefferson Fire-Rescue officials, who cited privacy laws.
The Coast Guard officials said they didn’t know the names.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Tom Callis contributed to this report.
