Benjamin Carroll

Raging Fire Destroys Abandoned Boat Club in Westchester

An abandoned boat club was turned to rubble Sunday after a fire tore through the Westchester dock.

Firefighters battled the heavy flames and thick smoke for hours at the Pioneer Boat Club in Hastings-on-Hudson and left the scene around 9 p.m. It has reportedly been abandoned for years.

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A former member of the club said it just became unfixable over the years. 

"It was a good place for a long time to hang out on the dock and go fishing," James Landon said. "After a while it closed and became unfixable. It got hard to carry wood on here to fix it."

Photos taken from the scene show flames shooting several feet into the air and firefighters battling the fire from several marine boats.

Residents say the flames were so big they could see the black smoke for miles.

Hastings resident Sandra Clough said she and her family were at home when they saw smoke rising from the river and wonder how a blaze that big could have been sparked.

“It’s known as a hangout for the kids and we were thinking it could be kids,” she said. “My son said they wouldn’t do that because they want to hang out there. We don’t know how it started.”

The area is secluded and there are no homes in the immediate vicinity. 

The cause of the fire is still not known.

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