Photos courtesy: Venice Paparazzi
10:41am
Venice residents yesterday complained of the smell of burring plastic in the air after black smoke billowing from a boat burning in the waters off Venice Beach blew in from offshore.
Los Angeles County Fire Department managed to put out the fire onboard the 35-foot boat, after responding to a call at around 3:08pm on Saturday.
Using a Baywatch rescue boat, lifeguards pulled six people, including the boat owner Gwindael Buchon and his 4-month-old baby, out of the water.
A fire department spokesperson said an ambulance was on standby at the Sheriff’s dock in the Marina. The baby and her mother, Theresa Gandler, where taken to a near by hospital and later released.
The boaters had jumped from the burning boat into the water, officials said. The mother held her baby as she jumped, and both went underwater and then came up, LA County Lifeguard, Jon Van Duinwyk told KNBC4. Duinwyk told CBS 2 News that as the mother and child surfaced he identified himself as a lifeguard and took the baby from her mother. He said he held the baby above his head a he swam to the lifeguard boat.
Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatch Supervisor Art Marrujo said the fire was out by 3:40 p.m. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Watch video of the boat owners and parents of the 4- month old talking to CBS 2 News.
