A fishing vessel was 24 kilometres south of Cape Sable and the there were two people aboard who had a bit of a scare after a fire broke out in the vessel on November 6, but was able to put out the fire themselves. Commanding officer Jim Newell, with the Coast Guard Clark’s Harbour-West Head station, recalled the incident saying that the fire broke out when the crew started the generator. It was unclear whether it was an electrical or mechanical problem.
According to Newell they were trying to start their generator and a ball of fire came. He added that they are not sure if it came from the wiring going to the generator, or the generator itself. He also told that when the smoke started to die down the two-person crew was able to put out the fire, which had almost extinguished itself. Later the vessel, the Gray Spark out of Tignish, P.E.I., was towed to West Head. Later at the wharf, one of the fishermen who was on board the vessel called the fire a minor electrical fire and said the situation was never as serious as Coast Guard or rescue officials had indicated.
Newell told that there was very little structural damage, although there was electrical damage. He continue saying that due to firs smoke everything was covered in soot and it is difficult to tell. At around 10:30 a.m. on November 6, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre received a distress call from the 40-foot fishing vessel Gray Spark, which was sailing off southwestern Nova Scotia.
