Vashon’s fire department responded to a beach and brush fire at Maury Island Marine Park on Thursday night and called in the Tacoma fire boat to assist.

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR) Chief Charlie Krimmert said the department was called to the fire about 9:30 p.m. after someone from the other side of the water called 911 and reported seeing a large fire on the island. The dispatcher was able to provide only an approximate fire location, leaving responders to determine exactly where it was.

When they arrived, Krimmert said they walked into the location, but it was difficult to get water to it. That led to the decision to call in the fire boat, which he termed “very, very helpful” in putting out the blaze. Vashon firefighters dug a fire line around the flames and stayed for about three hours tending to burning logs. They left a few logs with deep-seated fires to burn out, he said, and were called back the next morning as some logs were still smoldering.

Krimmert estimated that the fire was about 30 by 150 feet when they arrived, with flames 1 to 3 feet high. He said several logs on the beach were on fire and that the blaze had started to climb up into the nearby brush. He does not know what caused the fire.

In all, he said, 11 people responded to the fire, which he called a good turnout. While they were on scene, other department personnel were also busy with aid calls that came in around the time the fire was reported, and responding to those simultaneously was a “little bit of a push,” he added. Those calls, and the ensuing hospital transports, interrupted ferry travel, leaving many late-night travelers sitting on the Fauntleroy dock wondering what was happening. Washington State Ferries spokesman Brian Mannion on Friday explained that around 10:40 p.m. there was a medical transport off the island, and while the ferry was en route to Fauntleroy, the Maury Island fire flared, and VIFR officials called the ambulance back to the island. The request caused the scheduled 11:40 p.m. ferry to leave early — around 11:05 p.m. — with the requested ambulance after the patient was transferred. The next boat did not arrive at Fauntleroy until around 1 a.m. for the scheduled 12:55 a.m. departure to Vashon.

“The driving factor in both directions (to and from Fauntleroy) was getting that aid car back and forth,” Mannion said.

Crews also performed work on the Fauntleroy dock late Thursday night, but Mannion said that work was pre-scheduled to happen between sailings and did not contribute to delays.