Harbour eyesore up in smoke
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Updated: July 04, 2009 6:36 PM
An abandoned vessel which had run aground near the East Sooke shore burned to the waterline on Friday night.
No one was injured or killed in the incident. A reported explosion drew initial attention to the burning Second World War-vintage MV Florence Filberg in Sooke Harbour.
Sooke Fire Chief Steve Sorensen said arson was suspected although he had no firm details on why, or by whom the blaze may have been set.
"We got the call a little after nine," said Sorensen. "The Coast Guard Auxiliary took us out. They're not geared for firefighting. All they could do was take a couple of our guys out and prevent people from getting too close."
From there on it was a case of monitoring the situation. There was good news in that the fuel tanks had been emptied some time earlier.
The 30-metre craft was soon fully engulfed as darkness fell. Onlookers flocked to viewpoints throughout the area to take in the spectacle.
Sooke RCMP reported that two suspects were apprehended shortly after the fire started. A member of the public was credited with phoning in a tip. Arrests were made as the pair came into a marina. Charges of arson and impaired operation of a motor vehicle were laid.
Circumstances around the tug's appearance in the harbour were suspicious from the outset. What is not clear, is whose job it is to deal with the hulk.
"We've contacted every level of government we can find and nobody will take responsibility for it," said Sorensen. "It's not actually in the District of Sooke. East Sooke, not being a municipality, has no municipal boundaries on the water. So it's actually federal land but because there's no fuel leaking they won't look after it."
The District is, however, an obvious destination for complaints, as Mayor Janet Evans described the following day.
"People keep phoning the office thinking it's our responsibility," she said. "They have to realize it's a federal and provincial jurisdiction there. We don't have the funds in order to clean that up."
Local MP Dr. Keith Martin is no stranger to the frustrating process involved in finding out which agency is accountable for this type of problem.
"It's an environmental hazard," said Martin on Saturday. "The Sooke Fire Department went over and beyond the call of duty responding to this fire, which is not in their jurisdiction."
The MP lamented the way some people treat area waters "like a garbage dump."
"Everybody's turning their backs on them (vessels), including the owners and the feds, and this is unacceptable. We have to arrive at an arrangement to get these boats removed."
Editor Pirjo Raits, in the April 2, 2008 edition of the Sooke News Mirror cited a District of Sooke staff report explaining that the vessel could not be considered "abandoned" until a period of two years had elapsed, according to the Navigable Waters Protection Act. The 2008 report stated the vessel was in navigable waters and under the jurisdiction of Transport Canada. The boat showed up shortly before first being noted in the Sooke News Mirror on November 21, 2007.
The Florence Filberg may have burned but her remnants could continue to be a problem. It was high tide on Friday night and most of the craft went up in smoke. What remains, and is far less visible, is a massive hull resting at or near the surface.
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