Burned boats to be raised at Lake Powell

Investigators trying to determine the cause of a massive marina fire at Lake Powell plan to raise four boats that sank there.

The Utah State Fire Marshal and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives plans to raise the boats next week, said Max King with the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Investigators will then examine the wreckage to help determine how the fire started.

"They think there's a good chance at least one of these boats might have been the boat where the fire originated," he said Thursday.

The boats are about 200 feet down in the waters of Halls Crossing Marina, a remote part of Lake Powell on the Kane/San Juan county border.

Investigators have kept quiet about their findings or suspicions about the enormous fire that destroyed 15 boats and damaged others on Dec. 18. Flames were seen coming from the covered boat slips.

Firefighters from all over the rural area responded, some taking an airplane from Page, Ariz., to reach the scene. Damage from the fire is estimated at somewhere between $3 million and $5 million.

The dock has not started reconstruction yet, King said. Boats that were salvageable have been relocated to other parts of the marina.

"One of the first things they have to do is get those boats and there are other pieces of other boats that fell in the water," he said.

---

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com