{"id":275739,"date":"2026-05-18T22:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T22:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/275739\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T22:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T22:12:12","slug":"officials-push-boating-safety-ahead-of-memorial-day-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/275739\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials push boating safety ahead of Memorial Day weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

As families prepare to celebrate the upcoming Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of the summer season, officials are warning boaters to stay alert and aware about key safety issues.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief Stephen Gollan on Monday joined fire rescue workers who were among the first to respond to a boat explosion<\/a> last year that killed<\/a>\u00a0Joshua Fifi, 29, and injured many others.<\/p>\n

The majority of the people on the boat were taken to the hospital, including members of the Rivera family. Cassandra Rivera and her two sons, Anthony and Kash, were on hand Monday to share in the warning message issued by Gollan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost lost my whole family,\u201d said Rivera, expressing gratitude to the rescue workers who reunited with her and her sons on Monday.<\/p>\n

The kind of catastrophic failure that led to last year\u2019s explosion is unusual, but officials emphasized that it would also be preventable if safety precautions are made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis reunion today is a reminder that behind every emergency call, there are real people, real families, and lasting impacts,\u201d Gollan said. \u201cOne of the biggest risks on a boat is fuel vapor ignition.<\/p>\n

\u201cGasoline fumes can build up in enclosed spaces and ignite with a single spark. \u2026 If you smell fuel, do not start the engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FortFort Lauderdale Fire Chief Stephen Gollan speaks during a news conference about boating safety over the Memorial Day weekend in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, May 18, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett \/ Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

In addition to watching out for fuel vapor build-up, Gollan advised boaters to avoid going into the water drunk, to always wear a life jacket and to maintain safety equipment.<\/p>\n

Florida has nearly 1.03 million registered vessels and up to one million non-registered vessels actively using Florida\u2019s waters. Last year the annual Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission\u2019s Boating Accident Statistical Report recorded 51 fatalities that were the results of 41 incidents, down from 81 deaths involving 76 accidents in 2024.<\/p>\n

Information from the News Service of Florida was used in this report.<\/p>\n

\"CassandraCassandra Rivera speaks about her family sustaining injuries in last year\u2019s boat explosion on the Intracoastal Waterway. A news conference about boating safety was held in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, May 18, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett \/ Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As families prepare to celebrate the upcoming Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of the summer season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,28,249,251,250,114,266,109],"class_list":["post-275739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-florida","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}