Boat completely burns up in Twin Lakes No. 1

A boat that had been carrying a family of four was completely burned early Friday afternoon at Shawnee’s Twin Lakes Lake No. 1.
All occupants were wearing life jackets and evacuated the boat without injury.
Steve and Dava Peters and their two teenaged children, all of Shawnee, began the holiday weekend on the water with their 1986 Bayliner when, at about 3 p.m., the rear of the boat caught fire.
“I think the carburetor backfired and ignited it,” Steve Peters said.
Shawnee police officer Allen Nichols, who is responsible for summer lake patrol at the Twin Lakes, made the initial call to the Shawnee Fire Department.
“I saw smoke as I was coming around the corner and called it in,” Nichols said. “I saw that other boaters had stopped and loaded them up and made sure everyone was safe and waited with them until the fire department could arrive.”
The names of the boaters who retrieved the family from the water were unknown by the Peters and the officer.
“There were two boats that saved us and two WaveRunners had extinguishers and tried to extinguish the fire,” Dava Peters said. “I don’t know their names but they were amazing people. I told the kids, ‘That’s the kind of people you need to be when you’re older. They knew it was a very dangerous situation and they put themselves in danger to help us.’”
Attempts by the WaveRunners’ riders to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful and they were forced to back off and let the burning boat drift toward the dam where firefighters put out the fire.
“We hadn’t been out here 30 minutes when it happened,” Steve Peters said. “It’s kind of ironic. I had just been talking to the kids on the way out here about how that I’d never put them in harm’s way or let anything happen and this happened.”
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Johnna Ray may be reached at 214-3934.