Two boats have been gutted after a freak accident at Burton Waters Marina in Lincolnshire. It is believed to have started after one of the boats refuelled

The owner of a boat, which was gutted after a fire at Burton Waters Marina, says he is devastated that six months of work refitting the boat has now gone up in smoke.

Firefighters from Lincoln, Saxilby, Sleaford and Scunthorpe tackled the fire. No one was injured in the incident, which happened on 25 March 2017 at 12.30pm.

Bob Nicholson was renovating the 23-foot Stella Maris for his wife, Sue, who owns the boat worth £9,000.

Speaking to the Lincolnshire Echo, he said: “I’d only just finishing doing it up for sale and it’s such as shame because it’s a complete write-off and someone has been deprived of the chance of earning a nice boat”.

“My wife is heartbroken and I’m totally devastated. I did it up for something to keep my mind occupied,” he explained.

“But it’s just one of those things. It’s no-one’s fault, it just happened,” added Nicholson

It is believed the fire started accidentally after a visiting boat – a Freedom 22 – had just refuelled at the marina’s diesel pump. It is thought a carburettor of the motor yacht backfired and ignited fuel vapour.

The flames spread from the boat to the Stella Maris. The two fuel pumps, jetty and two trees were also on fire, and thick black smoke could be seen above the marina.

The fuel pumps are expected to be back in operation within the next two weeks.

The managing director of Burton Waters Boat Sales, Adam Cox, explained what happened.

“What happened was that a visiting boat came and was fuelled up and then the man came to pay. It was nearly 20 minutes later that he started the boat up and at that point he saw there was a fire on board so he quickly gets off,” he said.

“Our fire safety team tried to deal with the fire at first but it was just too fierce but the firefighters were here really quickly. Thankfully, no-one was hurt,” added Cox.

Firefighters used special pumps to prevent the boats from sinking.