By JOHN PEPIN
Deputy public information officer
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
In the western part of Wayne County, about 30 minutes west of Detroit, sits beautiful Belleville Lake – a popular, 1,250-acre playground for boaters, panfish and muskie anglers and in early July, fireworks watchers.
Judy Brothers has worked there as a summer ranger for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for the past three seasons.
A former General Motors worker who retired after more than 30 years on the job, Brothers took a part-time job a week after her GM “retirement” at Target where she stayed for nine years before leaving to work three more years as an assistant manager at Dollar Tree.
She said she loves her seasonal work at the DNR, her coworkers and the friends she’s made from people of different walks of life she’s met while working.
“I really, really enjoy my job,” she said. And she doesn’t want another one like it anytime soon.
A shimmering waterfront setting
Belleville Lake, the largest inland lake in southeast Michigan, was created in the 1920s when the Eastern Michigan Edison Co. being developed dammed the Huron River.
The DNR maintains two boating access sites there – east and west – that together attracted more than 95,000 visitors last year.
The east site is the busier of the two, with two docks – one for loading boats and other watercraft onto vehicles, and the other for launching.
This is where Brothers works weekends from mid-April to mid-October.
She said morning is usually a quieter time when she has an opportunity to clean up and perform other maintenance duties, like trimming trees and cutting weeds.
Afternoons get very busy when boaters start coming in.
Brothers has a booth at the entrance to the site, where she directs traffic and checks vehicles for Recreation Passports, required for entry.
She said began like most of her shifts except that with gray, cloudy skies threatening rain, there were fewer visitors than usual.
If the rain would only hold off, the Belleville Yacht Club next door would be holding its massive Fourth of July fireworks show after sundown that night, with a colorful, patriotic display for boaters and other revelers positioned around the rim of the lake.
Trouble on the water
Shortly after noon, Brothers checked in a boating party of five people – a family group of four men and one woman out for a day on the lake. Four were Michiganders and one was a visitor from Colorado.
The group put their 21-foot Marada boat in the water. “They got it started and they got it untied from the dock and they stalled,” Brothers said.
The boaters tried to restart the boat using a portable charger.
Brothers heard an explosion.
“I looked out the window from the booth. I called 9-1-1 and then ran out there,” she said. “I saw the boat maybe 10 feet from the dock and there were flames on it.”
With no formal emergency training, Brothers said her instincts kicked in.
“I knew that boat was on fire, and I knew there was gas in there and I knew gas and fire don’t mix,” she said. “The woman was screaming that she couldn’t swim, and I was screaming for them to jump in the water.”
All the people on the boat had life jackets, but not all the boaters had a chance to get them on before the fire ignited. Three of the boaters could swim. The remaining two who couldn’t had already donned their life jackets.
“It happened so quick,” one of the boaters said.
The boaters jumped into the water at the urging of those on shore. Brothers threw a life jacket toward them to help pull the woman back to the safety of the dock.
“All five passengers on the boat escaped injury,” said Traci Sincock, DNR park supervisor for Maybury State Park and the Belleville Lake boating access sites.
A couple of the boaters had singed clothing items.
Response
A pontoon boat from the yacht club getting ready for the fireworks show was in the area.
“They came over and put a hose on the boat,” Brothers said. “They stayed there until the fire department showed up.”
With the help of the yacht club watercraft, the boat was returned to the dock, but it continued to burn with a full tank of gasoline.
The burning boat began to drift toward the second dock, where two personal watercrafts were parked. One of the watercrafts was damaged by the fire, and both by smoke.
Brothers said she worked to keep spectators back.
A fire engine from the Van Buren Fire Department arrived with a crew. Firefighters used a handline and an ABC fire extinguisher to put the fire out. A second engine arrived to supply the first with its water to battle the blaze.
At 2:25 p.m., the boat was still smoldering.
One of the boaters said once the firefighters used the ABC fire extinguisher, which sprays dry powder to fight gasoline – and several other types – of fires, the flames were quickly put out.
The boaters had bought a brand-new fire extinguisher for the boat but did not have it mounted in the front of the boat yet. Instead, the extinguisher was located out of reach where the fire was burning.
Firefighters stood by until the boat was pumped out and placed on a flatbed towing vehicle.
Sincock speculated that the cause of the explosion may have been the boat operator not remembering to turn on the engine blower motors to provide ventilation before starting the boat. She said a similar incident occurred previously at the lake.
One of the boaters, who was not the owner, said the boat was not equipped with engine blower motors. He said he would now never recommend owning this type of boat if it didn’t have them.
The boat had just gotten out of the repair shop after having had the carburetor rebuilt. New carpeting had also been installed because sparking the engine ignitor had caused a previous fire, he said.
The boat was a complete loss and was uninsured.
Aftermath
In retrospect, the boater said actions could have been taken to prevent some of the results of the fire, including starting the boat while it was still tied to the dock and insuring the watercraft.
He recommended boaters take boating safety classes.
Brothers acted quickly and effectively in the face of the emergency.
“It was quite an experience. I just hope nothing else like that happens anymore this summer,” Brothers said. “My heart was going a million miles an hour.”
At 3:30 p.m., with her shift over with, Brothers left work.
“I came home, took a shower and just
,” she said. “I took it all in and tried to let it all go.”
Reflecting on the experience, she said, “I wasn’t really thinking. My actions just happened.”
One of the boaters was also complimentary of the actions Brothers took.
“She did a great job,” he said.
Later that night, a small break in the day’s rainy weather allowed the yacht club’s fireworks show to go on as planned. Videos on social media showed dozens of boats bobbing on the water with beautiful fireworks bursting overhead.
The following day, Sincock wrote a memo to Ron Olson, chief of the DNR Parks and Recreation Division, recommending that Brothers be recognized for her quick and responsive actions.
“I am very proud of her,” Sincock said. “She’s a great employee.”
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