Gary “Rod” Wilkins thought he had reached the end of the line.
He had already made several fruitless attempts to escape from his burning boat, Whimsea. Each time the choking smoke forced him back to the ground, crawling in an attempt to keep his lungs clear.
Finally a good Samaritan heard his cries and broke a window on the 42-foot yacht docked at Don D. Statter Memorial Harbor, enabling Wilkins to escape what was rapidly becoming a fully engulfed inferno.
“Somebody was looking out for me, that’s for sure,” Wilkins said Friday, back home in Juneau after a nearly weeklong stay in an Anchorage hospital.
Now, Wilkins is focusing on recovering from the injuries sustained in the boat fire on June 27, rebuilding his life after the complete loss of his residence — and on helping investigators determine the cause of the blaze.
The 51-year-old is convinced the fire was arson, as was the fire that consumed his truck just two weeks earlier.
The truck fire is still an open case and Fire Marshal Dan Jager has said the two fires constituted a “red flag” for him.
On Friday, Wilkins said he has been talking to the Juneau Police Department, which is investigating the boat fire in conjunction with the fire marshal and the U.S. Coast Guard.
“It’s really obviously an arson,” he said, calling the odds of the two fires being coincidental “super-low.”
While Wilkins has a possible suspect in mind — a homeless man he says he booted from the harbor area a few times — gathering evidence to prove his suspicion will be really difficult, he acknowledged.
For one thing, the fire destroyed much of the Whimsea. And its subsequent sinking means that any potential evidence was further damaged or dispersed.
Targeted by fire bug?
On June 15, Wilkins found his Blazer had been torched in the harbor parking lot.
According to Wilkins, Jager told him the fire appeared to have started in the passenger seat area and would be investigated as an arson.
Wilkins suspected a man who had been making a habit of sleeping in the harbor area, including in the bathrooms.
“I booted him out a few times,” he said.
There were few clues, however, because a video surveillance system did not include the area where the truck was parked.
Wilkins couldn’t think of anyone else who might have been targeting him, saying, “I don’t have a whole bunch of enemies. I don’t owe a bunch of people money.”
Wilkins grew up in Juneau and said he would have to go back a couple of decades to dredge up any bad behavior, adding he didn’t think anyone would be carrying an active grudge against him.
On June 27, he suspects the person targeting him took things to a a potentially deadly level.
Wilkins was asleep in the berth of his boat when he woke just before 1 a.m., gasping for breath.
He rolled out of the berth and made it into the main salon of the boat before the smoke caused him to collapse, he said. When he realized the Whimsea was on fire, he said he “made a run” to the main exit from the boat, a sliding glass door. But he couldn’t get it open, possibly because the heat was jamming the mechanism.
“Fire was engulfing the back of the boat,” Wilkins recalled, adding that he collapsed again from the fumes and crawled back to the galley.
“By now, I’m kind of panicking,” he said, before laughingly saying, “OK, I’m really panicking. I’m panicking on a whole other level.”
Wilkins made his way back to the sliding glass door again but failed in an “aggressive” attempt to open it, retreating once again to the galley.
Finally, he said, a neighbor in the harbor heard him yelling and broke a narrow window out.
Wilkins “went for it” but got stuck halfway through. After catching his breath, he somehow wiggled all the way out, sustaining some pretty deep cuts on his back and chest.
The whole ordeal probably lasted about five minutes, Wilkins estimated. Someone had called 911, but he was off the boat before the first responders arrived.
Witness Frank Barnes told the Empire the Whimsea “was fully engulfed, and I mean from bow to stern.”
About 20 personnel from all five Capital City Fire/Rescue fire stations responded. Wilkins was taken first to Bartlett Regional Hospital and then flown to Providence Hospital in Anchorage after being intubated due to the smoke inhalation.
He was released from the hospital July 3 and is recovering well.
“But I’ve lost everything,” he said, adding that Whimsea was not insured due to its age.
Wilkins did have some insurance to pay for the recovery and cleanup from the boat’s sinking and added that as a disabled veteran, he believes his medical expenses will be covered.
“But the boat itself, no,” he said, estimating the total loss at about $60,000. Wilkins’ daughter, Carrie Miller, has started an online fundraiser to help him start over.
The Whimsea was successfully raised from the bottom of the harbor on June 30; the fire is still under investigation.
Wilkins remains concerned about his personal safety, saying he is leaving town temporarily.
“There’s a fire bug out there who’s fixated on me, it seems,” he said. “I hope they catch him. … I will be looking over my shoulder.”
• Contact reporter Liz Kellar at 523-2246 or liz.kellar@juneauempire.com.
