Blaze on Noosa River, at Noosaville, destroys boats and damages jetty

Dramatic footage has been released of emergency services in action during a Noosa River blaze that destroyed four rental boats and damaged the Noosa Catalina party boat.

Dramatic footage has revealed how emergency services swung into action during a blaze that destroyed four rental boats and damaged the Noosa Catalina.

Police are investigating after four boats at Pelican Boat Hire were destroyed and the luxury tourist cruise boat sustained damage during an early morning blaze at the boat hire business on the Noosa River at Noosaville on March 23.

The owner of the Noosa Catalina is waiting for advice from insurance assessors to see if it can operate over the Easter holidays.

The Noosa Catalina docks next to the boat hire business.

The footage shows the moments when police arrived and started to fight the blaze along with the firefighters efforts.

Police have released dramatic footage that shows the blaze on the Noosa River in the early hours of March 23.

Firefighters rushed to the intersection of Gympie Tce and Thomas St about 1.30am where three small motorised boats and a pontoon boat were on fire at Pelican Boat Hire.

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman said the two fire crews at the scene extinguished two of the boats.

The Noosa Catalina owner is waiting on insurance assessors to give him the green light to operate following a blaze on the Noosa River on March 23. Picture: Letea Cavander

She said the Noosa Coast Guard was called in to assist.

Firefighters also used the assistance of a private vessel and boatie to collect two of the flaming boats that had gone adrift more than 20m from the shore.

The boatie dragged the boats back and firefighters dampened down the four boats at a jetty before leaving the scene about 3.30am.

Paramedics were on standby but were not required.

A badly damaged jetty at Pelican Boat Hire on the Noosa River at Noosaville.

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Noosa Catalina owner Tim Norris said the plan was for the business to operate over the Easter holidays but he was waiting on the green light from insurance assessors.

He said no cruises were scheduled for Thursday, March 23 or Friday, March 24.

The damaged jetty at Pelican Boat Hire. Picture: Letea Cavander

Pelican Boat Hire boathouse manager Matt Smith said although the incident was “tragic” coming into the Easter holidays, the blaze could have had far worse consequences.

He said if the wooden jetty with two fuel lines “running up the middle” had caught alight, the situation would have been different.

The jetty is the main refuelling site for many of the larger Noosa River vessels including the Coast Guard.

This wooden jetty at Pelican Boat Hire has two fuel lines running along its middle. Boathouse manager Matt Smith says had they caught alight, the situation would have been much worse.

“Nobody was here to get injured and with a fleet of 25 boats and to lose four, particularly four of the older smaller boats, it could have been worse,” he said.

“It will still put a bit of a hole in our Easter.”

He said the business was still assessing the cost of the blaze and acknowledged the efforts of the firefighters.

A steady stream of customers were still hiring boats from the fleet and the manager said it was business as usual as workers fixed the damaged rubber jetty.

Noosa CIB Acting Detective Sergeant Mal Teissl said an investigation into the blaze continued and officers were not ruling anything out at this early stage.

He said officers had looked at some CCTV and were waiting for more and that detectives would also work with marine experts to explore any other causes of the fire.

Sergeant Teissl said the Catalina Noosa and Pelican Boat Hire staff had collected debris from the water following the blaze, to protect marine life, and that Noosa police and firefighters who responded to the fire had done “a great job” to hose down other boats to stop the fire spreading.