The blast came out of nowhere.
Matthew Miller said he had just slipped his phone into his pocket after changing the music on his family boat. He, his kids and some friends were enjoying the Fourth of July holiday on Lake Nottely in northeast Georgia, about an hour and a half from their home in Canton.
They had just filled up the gas tank Friday at a lakeside station when, without warning, the boat exploded into roaring flames, creating huge plumes of smoke.
“I thought a bomb went off,” Miller said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Everybody was just engulfed in fire. We were all just in it, and everybody was screaming and trying to get out of the boat.”
It was one of three boat explosions in Georgia on Independence Day.
“It is not an everyday occurrence, but we usually see a few each year,” Georgia Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Mark McKinnon said. “It was rare to see three in one day.”
Hours away on Lake Lanier, the Perkins family also scrambled off their boat after it burst into flames that evening near Margaritaville at Lanier Islands.
Kedrick Perkins, his fiancee and their six children had planned to watch fireworks that night when the boat exploded, he said in a GoFundMe campaign.
“What was supposed to be a fun family day out on Lake Lanier turned into the most terrifying, heartbreaking day of my life,” Perkins said. “My poor family sustained second- and third-degree burns. My oldest and I had minimal burns.”
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
The family loves going to Lake Lanier and does so regularly, Perkins’ cousin, Demeitrice Collins, said in an interview with the AJC.
Four of the children and their mother, Jessica Kurtz, are still at Grady Memorial Hospital with third-degree burns. Kurtz underwent surgery this week, which is why Perkins declined interview requests.
Some of the kids will need reconstructive surgery due to the severity of their burns, Collins said. Full recovery will likely take a year. Perkins and Kurtz are only two weeks away from their wedding day, Collins said. They’ll likely have to postpone it.
The Perkins family is undergoing treatment in the burn unit — right next door to Miller’s children. Collins said the two fathers have become friends, “bonded by trauma.”
“We send our love out to the family from Lake Lanier,” Miller said.
Fourteen people were injured in the two North Georgia explosions, according to the DNR. In South Georgia, another boat exploded on the Altamaha River the same day. The operator had minor burns, but no serious injuries were reported, according to the department.
Miller said he remembers only a few things vividly from that moment on Lake Nottely in Union County. The explosion reminded the 20-year military veteran of his time in Afghanistan, where a rocket once exploded next to where he was sleeping, he said.
It was the last time he recalled feeling so stunned. Except this time, his family was in danger.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
His top priority was getting his kids into the water, he said. His two older sons, Aiden, 20, and Isaac, 17, had fallen into the bottom of the boat near the engine that had exploded. Someone had already thrown Miller’s youngest son, James, 10, off the front of the vessel, he said.
The scene was a blur, Miller said. Luckily, they were still near the dock, so bystanders rushed over on personal watercraft with life preservers to rescue everyone who was struggling in the water.
McKinnon said the engine had suddenly cut off while still in the no-wake zone. When those on the boat tried to restart it, it exploded.
Similarly, the Perkins family were engulfed in flames when their boat engine stalled on Lake Lanier and then exploded, Collins said. One of the children fell directly into the fire, and his mother leaped in to save him.
“That’s where she sustained the majority of her injuries, pulling her baby out the fire,” he said.
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
Perkins told his cousin he “went into survival mode” while surrounded by flames after the explosion and focused on getting his children off the boat, Collins said.
Days later, both families are still reeling in the hospital. But they aren’t alone in their horrific experiences and have leaned on each other in the aftermath.
James Miller was taken to Wellstar Cobb Hospital’s Pediatric Burn Unit, where he was released after some skin grafting. Aiden and Isaac Miller were also flown to Grady, where Aiden went into surgery for his first rounds of skin grafting, Matthew Miller said. Isaac has third-degree burns on 82% of his body and is on a ventilator.
“He’s a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour kind of case,” Matthew Miller said.
Support from the community has poured into the Miller’s GoFundMe campaign to help cover medical costs. They have raised more than $38,000. The Perkins’ GoFundMe, also designed to help with hospital bills, has raised over $16,000.
While the causes of the explosions are still being investigated, McKinnon said in general that boat explosions can occur when gas fumes build up in closed compartments during refueling and ignite once the engine is cranked.
“We advise boaters to open all of the compartments on the boat while refueling and for a few minutes after,” he said. “This will allow any fumes to dissipate and greatly reduce the chance of an explosion or fire.”
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