Thursday afternoon, six people escaped from a powerboat fire that engulfed the entire boat that they were riding in.

Five teenage boys and a man were using the boat for inner tubing on Lake Whatcom when the 17-foot fiberglass boat burst into flames. The passengers immediately exited the boat after hearing a loud pop from the inboard motor before it exploded, turning the boat into an inferno.

None of the boys or the man were injured and they were safely transported to land by a boat after a sea plane landed near the crash to provide assistance and let them use the plane as a flotation device.

Meanwhile, firefighters towed the boat around with their own boat, in figure eights, as it continued to burn near Hallock’s wooden dock. As the fire died down they brought the boat closer to shore, nudging the flaming wreckage against the edge of the dock for a moment, but leaving no serious damage. They extinguished the flames with fire hoses on the shoreline.

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