By Tim Chapman
The Miami Herald

MIAMI — Sawing away at a fiberglass hull as flames raged overhead, Miami Beach firefighters rescued two people from a multimillion-dollar yacht docked at the Miami Beach Marina.

The two suffered smoke inhalation but will apparently be OK.

"Those guys made it out just in time," said division chief Javier Soto of Miami Beach Fire Rescue.

The dramatic rescue effort early Monday took 40 minutes.

Two massive vessels were reduced to charred ruins.

The fire was reported at 4:51 a.m. by the occupants of a much smaller boat, who heard panicked screams.

Fire Rescue arrived within five minutes. They saw a 60- to 80-foot vessel fully engulfed.

An arm was visible through one of the below-deck windows, Otero said.

The occupants of the smaller boat who had called 911 permitted firefighter to use their vessel to get closer to the flames. The rescuers brought along the saw, firefighter breathing apparatuses and a hose. They cut a small hole in the hull and handed the two people inside the breathing equipment — and the hose to keep the flames at bay.

Then they worked to enlarge the hole. It took 40 minutes. But the occupants got out, without suffering injuries other than smoke inhalation.

The flames lit up the predawn sky, eventually jumping from the original yacht to a neighboring vessel, destroying that one, too.

A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue fireboat arrived and poured water on the inferno until the flames were finally doused.

A third boat suffered some superficial damage.

Others in the marina on Alton Road said the vessel that caught fire had docked at the marina on Sunday afternoon.

Copyright 2008 The Miami Herald