Several boats caught fire early Monday at a marina in McKeesport.
Neighbors told police they heard an explosion before seeing the flames at the McKeesport Marina on Water Street.
“I heard this gigantic blast,” said Frank Ayers, who lives across the Youghiogheny River from the marina. “My house shook, my windows shook, my bed shook and the ground shook,” Ayers said.
Firefighters were called shortly before 3 a.m. to the marina, where five boats were damaged.
Several windows at a nearby church were shattered.
There were no reports of injuries.
Firefighters said the fiberglass boats melted. Boat owners rushed to the marina.
“We are like family down here, together all summer,” Kathy Taglowe said. Her boat was not damaged. Taglowe told Channel 11 News that when the boats are dry-docked for the winter, the power is turned off and the boats are stored behind a locked fence.
“It doesn’t make sense. I have no clue what could have happened,” Taglowe said.
The fire marshal and bomb squad are investigating.