GRAND HAVEN TWP, MI (WHTC) Power has been restored in Grand Haven after a boat on the Grand River caused an outage Tuesday evening.
Deputies from the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office and Grand Haven Fire Rescue were dispatched to Robbins Rond and 152nd Avenue on a report of a fire around 8:30 p.m. Sgt Matt Wilfong says it was orginally thought that a transformer in the area had caught on fire. The Ottawa County Marine Patrol responded with a fire boat to put out the fire and Spring Lake-Ferryburg Fire Department assisted with a boat as well.
The man on board 23-year-old Michael Sanders of Spring Lake was operating a 26 foot Kodiak Nimble sailboat in the Grand River. His mast hit a overhead power line and shorted the electrical system on the boat causing it to catch fire. He attempted to put the fire out, but was unable to. Sanders then jumped into the water and swam to shore. He suffered burns on his face, arms and hands.
A passerby brougt him to North Ottawa Community Hospital and later transported to Spectrum Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids.
Firefighters also responded to grass fires caused by the crash.
