The Seward fire chief is warning people living in boats and other dwellings to install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms after a man and his dog were discovered dead after a fire on a sailboat Saturday morning.
The Perspective, a roughly 30-foot sailboat moored in the city’s small-boat harbor, appears to have lacked the detectors, Chief Eddie Athey said Monday. Video of the blaze on Facebook shows the sailboat mast crashing down, but Athey said damage was limited to the boat. The man appears to have been one of several “liveaboards” who reside on boats in the harbor. Many of the boats lack smoke alarms, though they’re required wherever people sleep, Athey said. They also often lack carbon monoxide detectors, required where diesel heaters burn fuel or, in this case, where a wood stove provided heat.