Put-in-Bay Gazette September ’25 – Worst Harbor Boat Fire In Years!

putinbay.com is proud to present the following article from the Put-in-Bay Gazette. For the best South Bass Island journalism, visit putinbay.news and subscribe to the Gazette today!

Worst Harbor Boat Fire In Years!

The billowing black smoke from two burning boats blackened the sky over Put-in-Bay harbor on Saturday afternoon, August 9th. Fortunately, the fire, which could have been much worse, was contained to just the two boats.

The fire started about 2 p.m. at the Boardwalk gas dock when the owner of a fiberglass boat was, according to one source, attempting to hotwire a connection needed to make it start. When the connection sparked, there must have been enough gasoline vapor in the boat to cause an explosion and fire. The owner of the boat ended up in the water with severe burns and other injuries serious enough that the PIB EMS had him LifeFlighted off the island for treatment.

As the boat began to burn, a light grayish-white smoke wafted into the air. Like a similar situation many years ago, the boat was set adrift to get it away from the gas dock.

Put-in-Bay Quick Links

• Things To Do At Put-in-Bay
• 2025 Put-in-Bay Event Calendar
• Our Favorite Places To Eat At PIB
• Put-in-Bay Ferry Service

As the boat drifted away from the dock, the bright red/orange flames burning the fiberglass turned to thick black smoke. The wind was in just the right direction to push the burning boat across the channel into the anchorage where it brushed an unoccupied boat setting it on fire. This second boat was tied to a buoy as were other empty boats in the path of the first boat.

By this time, crowds had gathered along the shoreline and on the docks to watch. The fire department arrived, but the two burning boats were out of reach for them to directly do anything. Onlookers watched a coupled waverunners zooming by the first burning boat and splashing it with their rooster tails as it continued drifting through the anchorage.

Miller Boat Line’s Middle Bass ferry came into the harbor and got as near as it could to the second burning boat to use its emergency fire hoses.

The jet skiers successfully cleared a path through the anchorage so the burning boat could safely drift toward Gibraltar Island without starting another boat on fire. The two untied two boats and then one of them, Jason Mengelkamp from Cincinnati, used the wake of his machine to guide the fiery boat safely to shore where the fire was later extinguished by firefighters who had arrived in the township boat.

putinbay.com Top Lodging Picks For 2025 At The Bay

A short time later, the towboat “Charlotte Marie” from Rescue Marine arrived to take part in getting the fires under control. The U.S. Coast Guard also arrived, and the Township’s small boat manned by PIB Vol. Fire Dept. personnel arrived to finally douse the two fires completely.

The two boats were both beyond repair.

At the fire’s peak, the thick black smoke could be seen on the mainland and across the border on Pelee Island, just like when the Colonial burned in 1988.

At the end of the day, the actions of Mengelkamp and the other jet skier, an unidentified Canadian French man, are what saved several other boats from catching fire in the anchorage. One very grateful boater,

Tiffany Parke Lokie, thanked and credited them on social media saying, “It’s a miracle our boat didn’t catch on fire.”

Following the fire, social media posts identified the critically injured boater as Jon Danklefsen from Port Clinton, reporting that he was in intensive care suffering second-degree burns covering nearly 45% of his body. A GoFundMe page was launched to help with his hospital bills. Please consider checking out the GoFundMe to aid in his medical care and recovery (Help Jon Danklefsen’s ICU Medical Bills).

To subscribe to the Put-in-Bay Gazette please visit their website by clicking here.