Fire breaks out at Florida Keys Boat Yard. What to Know.

A fire broke out at the Unique Marine boat yard in Tavernier Wednesday, damaging several vessels, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

The blaze was reported at around 2:35 a.m. Wednesday, MCSO officials said in an online press release. No injuries were reported in this incident.

In photos that the police agency posted online, the flames appeared to rage on a motorboat parked on a trailer that was partially covered by the workshop’s canopy tent, which also appeared to have been burned in the fire.

At least four boats were damaged, police said.

Photos posted online by the Monroe County Fire Rescue showed a two-engine vessel with a blackened stern.

No cause was available as of Thursday. The fire is being investigated by the Monroe County Fire Marshal.

Leesfield & Partners

Leesfield & Partners is a personal injury law firm with over 48 years of experience litigating cases for tourists and locals alike throughout the Florida Keys. The firm’s history in the area begins in 1973, about three years before it was established, with its Founder and Managing Partner, Ira Leesfield, trying his first-ever case as a new attorney in Key West. Decades and countless of clients later and Leesfield & Partners has become a trusted name in personal injury litigation. The firm has experience in various practice areas such as cruise ship litigation, boating accidents, jet ski crashes, resort torts litigation, premises liability and carbon monoxide injury cases.

Our skilled attorneys have represented countless clients involved in terrible explosions, fires and other burn incidents for nearly five decades. Our attorneys handle every case with the compassion and tenacity needed to support clients and obtain the best possible outcome in each case.

Additionally, Leesfield & Partners is among the top carbon monoxide injury law firms in the U.S. The firm filed a lawsuit that got national attention when a Key West hotel’s damaged roof vent leaked carbon monoxide into the room of an Iowa family. That case was among several in the state that spurred Mr. Leesfield to rally behind Senate Bill 1822, which provides protections related to carbon monoxide in Florida.

“Carbon monoxide poisoning isn’t just a subtle threat; it’s the second most common cause of non-medicinal poisoning death,” Mr. Leesfield and Trial Lawyer Evan Robinson said in a co-authored article discussing carbon monoxide litigation.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that around 400 people die in the U.S. annually from unintentional carbon monoxide exposure. Over 100,000 people are rushed to the emergency room every year for breathing in the toxic gas and 14,000 are hospitalized.

Previous Cases

Leesfield & Partners previously handled a premises liability case involving the fire deaths of a mother and her two children. The three had become trapped in a blaze that broke out at their rental home, which was caused by a defective electrical outlet.

Despite previously notifying their landlord about difficulty opening windows, the issue went unaddressed. On the day of the fire, the mother and children were unable to open the windows to escape and perished.

In an explosion case that started from a spark aboard a cargo ship, Leesfield & Partners secured a substantial award for clients who were badly burned.

The firm previously represented a man who was horrifically burned at his vacation accommodations in an explosion while on his honeymoon. The explosion stemmed from an improperly capped pipe that severely injured both the man and his wife. They were transported to a hospital in Florida where the wife tragically died from her injuries.

Leesfield & Partners handled a case on behalf of a family who lost their daughter when a fire broke out at their condo. The fire was caused by a faulty TV set. In the blaze, the girl’s father tried desperately to save her, but couldn’t. She was 13 years old.

The father was severely burned in that case. Leesfield & Partners secured a $2.95 million award.

The firm has also handled other cases involving burn injuries to clients including a child who was burned at a neighbor’s home by stew that was cooking on the stove. The child in that case, an 11-year-old boy, sustained second-degree burns to his legs when the improperly installed range tipped forward on him. An investigation by our firm determined that the landlord’s failure to use anti-tip brackets paved the way for the incident to occur.

Our firm secured a $300,000 settlement in that case.

In a construction site burn incident, the firm recovered $862,000 for an injured client.

Leesfield & Partners also represented a client in a medical malpractice case who was burned in the operating room by medical staff during a procedure. The firm secured $600,000 for the client in that case.

In carbon monoxide cases, the firm previously represented a woman who was exposed to the lethal gas while staying at a foreign resort. The firm obtained over $11 million for the woman in that case.

A confidential amount was secured on behalf of a college student who was exposed to carbon monoxide while staying in a house owned by the university. The cause of the leak in that case was revealed to be an exhaust pipe from the house’s furnace.

If you or a loved one was involved in a fire or carbon monoxide incident in Florida, don’t wait. Call a Leesfield & Partners attorney today at 305-854-4900 for a free consultation to see if you may be eligible to make a claim.

These photos were originally published by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the Monroe County Fire Rescue on their official Facebook pages. It is used here for educational purposes. Leesfield & Partners does not claim ownership.