Suspicious fire at Auckland’s Outboard Boating Club on Tāmaki Drive

A scene guard is in place and police investigation under way after three boats in a marina car park were destroyed by fire overnight.

Three motorboats went up in flames at the Outboard Boating Club (OBC) on Auckland’s Tāmaki Dr in a blaze firefighters are treating as suspicious.

A cordon has been erected and a police officer is taking details of anyone in the area and asking questions about their movements last night.

Concerned boaties worried their vessels may have been torched have been phoning in to check on their property.

Firefighters responded to suspicious boat fires at the Outboard Boating Club on Tamaki Dr, Auckland last night.

A Fire and Emergency spokesman said they were called to the club, near Hobson Bay, at 9.28pm.

A motorist who pulled over to call 111 told the Herald she and her partner were scared to get too close should the fuel in the boats ignite and explode.

Boats were engulfed in flames after a fire broke out at Outboard Boating Club on Auckland's Tamaki Dr last night.

“We were scared. It was quite hot,” she said.

“Three boats were on fire on the hardstand when we arrived.

“A fire engine arrived shortly after and stopped it from spreading. There was no one else at OBC except us and the security guard until the fire brigade showed up,” she said.

The aftermath of suspicious boat fires at the Outboard Boating Club on Tamaki Dr. Photo / Raphael Franks

The badly damaged boats were this morningparked in a row, charred from the fierce fire that burned well away from the road on the marina car park.

A strong smell of burned plastic hung in the air.

A police officer at the scene said he believed one of the boat’s owners had been to the scene “in a bit of a panic”.

OBC general manager Phil Davenport said he had contacted the owners of the damaged boats.

He had seen nothing untoward on any security footage - which has been shared with police - and said suggestions of “something out of the ordinary is only speculation at this stage”.

It was a secure location, he said.

A Fire and Emergency spokesman said firefighters arrived to find three boats on land on fire.

“We ... extinguished them, and a fire investigator [attended].

“It has been deemed suspicious.”

Police have a guard in place while forensic and fire investigators examine the scene.

Police have a guard standing watch while forensic and fire investigators examine the scene. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Detective Senior Sergeant Kathy Bostockasked anyone with information to contact police. She said people should call 105 and reference file number 250114/9974, or call Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.