{"id":247,"date":"2026-05-20T23:02:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=247"},"modified":"2026-05-20T23:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:02:29","slug":"stranded-mariner-took-ominous-video-just-before-santa-rosa-island-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=247","title":{"rendered":"Stranded mariner took ominous video just before Santa Rosa Island fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A new video obtained by SFGATE shows the potential cause of a major wildfire that has burned nearly a third of the ecologically sensitive Santa Rosa Island, a beloved part of Channel Islands National Park.<\/p>

Read more California fugitive charged with murder found in Mexico with his 2 children<\/a><\/p><\/div>

\"\"<\/div>

Around the time fire was spotted by fishing vessels on Friday, a stranded sailor set off a flare gun, which was believed by Coast Guard officials\u00a0to have caused the fire. The blaze spread quickly on the second-largest island within \u201cCalifornia\u2019s Galapagos,\u201d and is currently the state\u2019s\u00a0largest wildfire of the year.<\/p><\/div>

The fire is officially listed as \u201cunder investigation\u201d by the National Park Service, but the new video offers an explanation of what may have caused it. The video shows a wrecked sailboat ablaze on an island beach the day before the wildfire was spotted.<\/p><\/div>

<\/div>

\u201cWow, that\u2019s a hot fire, I hope I don\u2019t start this island on fire, that wouldn\u2019t be good,\u201d the stranded mariner filming the scene says. The video was shared with SFGATE by an anonymous source.<\/p><\/div>

The video has also been shared with a handful of people, including Carson Shevitz, a Ventura boat captain and the owner of Channel Watch Marine Services. His company does salvage and recovery operations within Channel Islands National Park, Shevitz told SFGATE, and he was contacted by the owner of the vessel that ran aground on Santa Rosa for assistance in recovering it.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

The recovery, along with the mitigation of pollution and debris, has been put on hold by the National Park Service due to the ongoing investigation, Shevitz said. But in the meantime, Shevitz said he heard the story of what happened from the mariner himself.<\/p><\/div>

<\/div>

The mariner, a 67\u2011year\u2011old man single\u2011handing a 54\u2011foot sailboat called Wet Vette, accidentally grounded his vessel on Santa Rosa Island around 2 p.m. on Thursday, Shevitz said. The mariner apparently left the boat after it started rocking, and about an hour later, the boat caught fire. The mariner showed Shevitz timestamped photos and videos of the intense blaze, he said.<\/p><\/div>

The mariner told Shevitz he hoped someone would see the smoke and come rescue him, and as the fire grew, he moved farther from the wreckage to escape the heat and smoke. He worried that the fire might spread into the dry brush around him, and ended up spending the night alone on the remote island with no cell signal while his boat continued to burn.<\/p><\/div>

Although Shevitz overheard a radio broadcast by the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles command center advising of the fire early Friday morning, he said it seemed that no one was yet aware that a person was involved. Hours later, when fishing boats approached to investigate the flames, the mariner fired flares to get their attention. He told\u00a0Shevitz he launched the flares from already\u2011burned ground to avoid igniting vegetation and that his photos and videos show the boat on fire about 20 hours before he was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard around noon on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more \u2018History being made\u2019: Gray wolf enters Sequoia National Park for the first time in over a century<\/a><\/p><\/div>

<\/div>

The Coast Guard has since updated its social media post explaining that the flares started the fire, and for Shevitz, the mariner\u2019s story and images offer a plausible alternative.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

\u201cBased on the information available at this time, Channel Watch\u2019s preliminary understanding is that the island fire appears more likely to have originated from embers produced by the burning vessel than from the distress flares,\u201d Shevitz wrote in an Instagram post.<\/p><\/div>

\n
\"image\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>

The Bay Area’s best free newsletter.<\/div><\/h2>
Stay informed, and entertained.<\/div><\/div><\/div>