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| Four Alarm Fire At Skipper Bud's |
 Seventy-five to 100 boats stored for the winter at Skipper Bud's at the North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor fell victim to a four alarm fire on Friday, February 15th. An estimated $12 million dollars worth of damage was caused but no injuries were reported.
"[There is] nothing yet on the cause," Winthrop Harbor Fire Chief Neal Wollert told the Chicago Tribune. "It's under investigation. The office of the state fire marshal just arrived at the scene."
Ron Levin, deputy chief for the Winthrop Harbor Fire Department, said that a man had been doing work on a boat shortly before the fire began. "The fire started in the northwest corner of the building," Levin told the Tribune. Firefighters had to go after the fire from the outside as they could not get inside. "It's way in the back. And these boats are packed in so tight, we couldn't get to it."
A sprinkler system in the storage area slowed the fire's spread which was concentrated on seven large boats according to officials. All of the boats in the building have smoke damage and those closest to the seven that were on fire might have suffered heat damage.
Twenty fire departments from Illinois and Wisconsin battled the conflagration, needing six hours to put it out.
The Winthrop Harbor Yacht Club praised Skipper Bud's for their reaction to the fire. Employees at Skipper Bud's contacted the customers who had stored their boats at the facility. Only four boats had severe damage according to Scott DeSoto, commodore of the yacht club. "By 9:00 a.m. Saturday, many Skipper Bud's customers had already received personal phone calls and emails from Dennis Ellerbrock and or Skipper Bud's staff," DeSoto wrote on the yacht club's web site.
"Credit for quick response needs to be given to Winthrop Harbor, State of Illinois personnel, Skipper Bud's and all the surrounding municipalities," he added.
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