A fire on White's Island burned eight sailboats causing an estimated $80,000 worth of damage yesterday afternoon.

The Bermuda Fire Service received a call at 1.33 p.m. from the Marine Police, who initially saw the smoke and thought it might have been controlled burning which got out of hand.

"That is exactly what happened - someone had been burning trash," said Dana Lovell Bermuda Fire Service spokesman.

"The fire was very serious and it took firefighters 20 to 25 minutes to bring it under control and another hour to put out spot fires."

Mr. Lovell said Casuarina trees needles caught on fire and the blaze then spread to the eight sailboats.

"The sailboats were completely damaged - it was the fibre glass from the boats, which made the fire harder to extinguish.

"The damage was estimated at $80,000 and the fire is still under investigation.

"The needles from the Casuarina trees caught on fire in other areas of the Island and the firefighters extinguished them."

Firefighters joined the Marine Police launch with two small pumps for Island fires.