Deadliest Catch captain left ‘shaken’ after deckhand trapped in huge fire on F/V Wizard
Deadliest Catch captain left ‘shaken’ after deckhand trapped in huge fire on F/V Wizard
The first episode of Deadliest Catch’s new season was eruptive, and in the literal sense. A terrifying fire broke out on the F/V Wizard, leaving the boat captain “shaken up” as a result.
WARNING: Content of a disturbing nature ahead: A deckhand was trapped inside the fire, while Captain Colburn only just narrowly escaped the flames. Several fans thought the Deadliest Catch fire “was fake,” while some think it was the “scariest” episode.
Huge fire breaks out on F/V Wizard
A massive fire began to erupt on the F/V Wizard, shocking Captain Colburn on Deadliest Catch’s premiere for its new season. He grabbed the walkie-talkie immediately after seeing flames.
The captain asked through the mic, “Do we have a headcount?” while his co-stars fought to battle the flames. That’s when they realized deckhand Tyler was still inside the boat, where the fire was.
One boat crew members shouted, “Where’s Tyler? Get those fire extinguishers!” When the flames erupted, Tyler had been downstairs getting the buoy set up, and heard him screaming from down there.
Captain Colburn left shaken up
Captain Keith Colburn ended up leading his crew to fight the fire on the F/V Wizard, but this resulted in him feeling very shaken afterward. He faced a life-threatening emergency at sea 750 miles from the nearest hospital.
He ordered the deckhands to pop the hatch and put a sling on Tyler. The captain, who first noticed there was smoke on the boat, managed to escape disaster despite the fire almost taking a deckhand’s life.
Luckily, Tyler was rescued and pulled to safety by his crewmates, but was coughing a lot when he first came out from the smoke. Colburn and the crew managed to set the CO2 off and put the blaze out.
The captain emotionally tells cameras he’s “confident” they put the flames out, adding with tears in his eyes, “I just about lost my best friend’s son.” Tyler was, meanwhile, recovering by drinking water.
‘Scariest thing’ on Deadliest Catch
The Discovery Channel and show producers have labelled the Deadliest Catch fire as possibly the “scariest thing” that’s ever happened on the show. However, some viewers couldn’t believe their eyes.
A fan wrote, “Seems fake. Been on boats never heard or seen a forepeak light up,” while one said, “Weird how they don’t even check on it after. And say oh the fire depression system will put it out, seems staged.”
Some thought the cast not calling the coastguard was strange. “Fake…. I already outlined in another post how there were no marks of fire, heat or smoke on him at all,” penned a non-convinced fan.
