VIDEO: Boat Fire Off Coast of Malibu

Firefighters today extinguished a fire aboard a 65-foot sailboat anchored off the coast of Malibu, authorities said.

One man was aboard the vessel when it caught fire around 11:20 p.m. Tuesday, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Supervising Dispatcher Phil
Ulloa.

The department sent a fireboat to the scene from Marina Del Rey, and the blaze was put out by 12:19 a.m., he said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, according to Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Rory Sullivan, who said the boat was anchored about a quarter- mile off Paradise Cove when the blaze broke out. The man on the boat managed to
escape in a dinghy, he said.

A nearby Coast Guard patrol boat responded to the fire, as did a county lifeguards' Baywatch vessel our of Marina Del Rey, Sullivan said.

Fire crews remained at the scene early today assessing the damage to the boat, he said.