July 4 boat explosions: Fathers recall panic to save their kids amid flames

“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.”

One of the children was flown to Grady Memorial Hospital’s burn unit, Perkins said, where Miller’s children are also being treated.

“We send our love out to the family from Lake Lanier,” Miller said. “They’re up here in the burn unit as well.”

Credit: GoFundMe

Credit: GoFundMe

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.

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.

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

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, of the Department of Natural Resources, 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.

Art Miller, Matthew’s father and a former firefighter, owns the boat. He and his wife rushed to the lake, where he watched in disbelief during his family’s emergency.

James was taken to Wellstar Cobb Hospital’s Pediatric Burn Unit, where he was released after some skin grafting.

Aiden and Isaac 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 their GoFundMe campaign to help cover medical bills. They had raised more than $33,000 as of Tuesday morning.

While the causes 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.”