Community Police & Fire
Fire devastating for owner of boat lost in Bujacich Dock blaze
Kristina LaVair lost her home in the Jan. 25 fire at Bujacich Dock.
She also lost most of her possessions, her preferred method of conveyance, and her favorite hobby. For boaters like LaVair, losing a boat is not unlike the death of a family member or close friend.
“For some people, it might seem silly to grieve over a boat,” LaVair said Tuesday, just a few days after the fire destroyed her boat and another at the dock in downtown Gig Harbor. “But people who know boats and understand boats, they get that. Your boat has a soul that you’re connected to. That was a big part of me and a big part of my life.”
The Salty Bitch tied up at Bujacich Dock on the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 26. Photo by Julie Warrick Ammann
GoFundMe campaigns
LaVair’s Salty Bitch, a 1981 Hunter Marine 33-foot sailboat, went up in the highly visible fire that many in Gig Harbor woke up to at around 7 a.m. Saturday. LaVair wasn’t there at the time, but a neighboring boat that burned was occupied.
Nobody was injured in the fire, which Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One firefighters extinguished before it could spread to commercial fishing boats tied up at the same dock. Along with the two boats that were destroyed, two other boats sustained heat damage, according to Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One Division Chief Tom Wescott.
GoFundMe campaigns have been organized for both LaVair and the other boat owner. (Gig Harbor Now was unable to contact the second boat owner.)
LaVair spent a hectic few days after the fire confronting the aftermath while grieving when she had time. She haggled with an insurance company that didn’t want to cover her damages, worked with the state Department of Natural Resources on getting Salty Bitch removed, and contacted the Department of Licensing to recover documents proving she owned the vessel in the first place. Her copies of those documents were on the boat — her home — and thus destroyed in the fire.
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A life on the water
The 2013 South Kitsap High School graduate has spent much of her adult life on the water and around boats.
She currently works as a deckhand on Pierce County’s Steilacoom ferry. Previous jobs included working in the commercial fishing industry out of Anacortes, as a deckhand on charter boats and in marine canvas in Gig Harbor.
LaVair bought the Salty Bitch when she was just 26 years old and spent untold hours making the boat seaworthy.
“She got me through a lot of things in life,” LaVair said. “Pretty much taught me I can get through anything.”
She brought the boat to Gig Harbor from Anacortes just a few days before the fire. She was planning to move it to a slip in Tacoma on Feb. 1.
Firefighters prevented larger conflagration
As awful as the fire was for LaVair and the other person whose boat burned, Gig Harbor Fire’s Wescott said it could have been even worse.
If the commercial fishing boats docked nearby had caught, the conflagration would be unimaginable. Such a fire also would have put the livelihoods of the fishermen at risk.
“Certainly, we feel for those people who lost those boats,” Wescott said. “Never like to see that, but you do like to see when the (fire) crews can have an impact and prevent it from spreading.”
The burned boats were tied up close to several commercial fishing vessels. Photo by Julie Warrick Ammann
Marina fires can be tricky. Gig Harbor firefighters routinely train for that eventuality, which presents unique challenges.
“When you’re fighting the fire, you’ve got to put the fire out but you also have to make sure you don’t sink the boat in the process,” Wescott said. “You’ve got a few things to think about that are unique as opposed to a structure fire.”
Community Support
While LaVair mostly lived on her boat, she said she has other places to stay. Her family lives in Port Orchard, and she kept some belongings there. The owner of the other boat was more of a full-time liveaboard, she said.
“Our first instinct was to make sure he had someplace to stay and warm clothes,” LaVair said. “He lost everything. That was his home.”
Though LaVair only recently relocated the Salty Bitch to Gig Harbor, she knew the other boat owner through the “tight-knit” community of harbor liveaboards.
That same community is reaching out to support her.
“It feels like I have to rebuild everything,” she said. “I worked really hard for a lot of years to be comfortable in that boat. I’ve worked on every inch of that boat.”
Click here to see the GoFundMe supporting Kristina LaVair
Click here to see the GoFundMe supporting the other boat owner