$480,000 yacht destroyed in fire

A late night fire destroyed the yacht of a retired Newport Beach fire captain Saturday.

Fire crews say there is little left of Mike Murphy’s 56-foot powerboat, valued at $480,000.

“It was pretty much destroyed,” said Sgt. Dave Ginther of the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol, which responded to the blaze.

No one was injured in the fire, and no other boats were damaged.

Harbor officials got the call a few minutes before midnight that a vessel off Bay Island had caught fire. A crew responded with a fire boat and battled the blaze for 20 minutes before extinguishing the fire. A fire engine from the Newport Beach Fire Department assisted in the operation.

Ginther said the name Heidi One was painted on the yacht although Murphy had planned to rename it Mikey 2.

No other boats were damaged in the blaze, but harbor officials did spray the nearby Rosebud with water to prevent it from going up in flames.

Ginther said the fire likely started in the boat’s engine and said the cause of the blaze is still being investigated. The fire appeared to be an accident, he said.