Did they rule out gremlins?
A Florida Department of Financial Services investigation into the origins of a Jan. 18 yacht fire at the Cortez Cove Marina has closed, according to DFS press secretary John O’Brien.
The cause of the fire was classified as “undetermined,” O’Brien said in a May 24 email to The Islander.
The 2014 Princess Y72 Motor Yacht was dry-docked at the marina, 4522 121st St. Court W., Cortez, when it caught fire, sending heavy smoke into the air for hours.
Personnel from West Manatee and Cedar Hammock fire rescue districts worked for 18 hours to extinguish the blaze and protect nearby boats.
According to WMFR Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski, marina staff performing maintenance on the vessel before the incident suggested the blaze’s origins were electrical.
Kwiatkowski described the fire as “likely the most tenacious we’ve gone to war with.”
The monetary damage to the yacht, more than 70 feet long and valued at $2.5 million, triggered the DFS investigation.
John Lynch owns the marina. A phone call to the marina May 25 resulted in no comment.
Neither the yacht owner, Michael Gary, a Kansas native, nor the boat’s captain, Matthew Gary, Michael’s son, responded to inquiries as of press time for The Islander May 31.
Though the state investigation is over, there may be a private investigation conducted by the company that insured the yacht, Kwiatkowski said May 25.