Boaters escape injury in fuel explosion

Andrew Glazer

BALBOA PENINSULA -- A boat burst into flames at a filling station on

Sunday, hurling its two passengers into the harbor.

Neither passenger -- Jeffrey Clayton Hines, 45, of Cardiss and his

brother Marc Langley Hines, 43, of Rancho Miraga -- were injured in the

blast.

They were refueling the refurbished 28-foot powerboat with at a Chevron

station near the Fun Zone just before 12:30 p.m. for what would have been

its maiden voyage, Capt. Mike Murphy of the Newport Beach Fire Department

said.

“It burst into a plume of fire and threw them out of the boat” Murphy

said.

Marc Langley Hines remained by the boat’s charred and melted remains two

hours after the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol extinguished the

fire.

Jeffrey Clayton Hines tried to start the engine, which had stalled, by

crossing two safety wires. The spark ignited gas fumes and 74 gallons of

fuel, causing the explosion, Jennison said.

Chevron employee Kyle Hubbard, 19, witnessed the explosion and rushed to

the boat, spraying the bilge fire with an extinguisher until it appeared

to go out. He said he pushed the boat from the refueling station to

prevent other boats from catching fire.

Less than five minutes later, after Harbor Patrol deputies, lifeguards,

the Coast Guard and the Fire Department arrived, a much larger fire

towered from the boat. Harbor Patrol officers blew foam onto the fire,

extinguishing it in less than a minute, Murphy said.

“They’re really lucky they escaped with only singed leg hair,” he said.