The joint owner of the boatyard that went up in flames in the early hours of Thursday said he is devastated at the loss but "humbled“ by the support he has received from the community.

William Lawrence, who owns the Boatport Boat Storage facility in St George’s with brother Edward Lawrence, was emotional yesterday as he described the hard work that had been put into the business he built with others “from the ground up” in 2009.

At about 3.30am on Thursday, the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service and Bermuda Police Service were dispatched to a report of numerous boats on fire at the facility on Wellington Slip Road, St George’s.

Mr Lawrence said one of two boat racks with a capacity to store about 100 boats combined were destroyed in the fire, affecting 47 customers. He said the rack that remains intact will help to provide an income to rebuild the business if that remains an option.

He told The Royal Gazette: “It’s been an emotionally draining couple of days — it wasn’t the start to Christmas we had expected.

“My brother Edward is my business partner. He and I are very grateful for the extreme hard work the fire department did yesterday, through the night and again today.

“We are very grateful for their services as well as the support from the police and the neighbouring businesses. We have had so many individual friends and businesses across the island all offering to help. They provided access, communication and emotional support.

“It was very humbling today contacting the 47 customers and them being more concerned about us and the business than their own boats. We value putting our customers first and providing the best service we can.

“We are going to rebuild it and offer the customers who lost their boats the first opportunity to come back. Some have already expressed a desire to get a boat and come back.

“We still have another 50 boats, so we have an income stream. It will take a little while, but we will try to get there by next summer.”

Mr Lawrence said fire crews were still on site at about 5pm yesterday tackling small fires and that the site was still considered a “hot zone”.

Police confirmed that the BFRS continued to lead the investigation. If foul play is suspected, police could be asked to join the investigation.

The BFRS had not provided an update on its investigation into the fire by press time.

Lester Nelson, the chief executive of the Bermuda Airport Authority, lost his boat Aviator to the fire.

He said: “My wife, April, and I had great times on the boat, and it’ll certainly be a miss. Importantly, we are grateful that no one was injured as a result of the fire.

“We are also very grateful for the kindness expressed by many, and by the quick response from Boatport’s management and staff, and our insurer, BF&M.”

Before the fire, Boatport had 90 dry-stack rack berths plus 20 single-day berths. It offers boat launching and hauling services using a 24,000lb forklift, among other services.

Mr Lawrence thanked staff from BF&M insurance who visited the site, saying they had been very supportive.

He paid tribute to the staff that have worked for Boatport, including Derek Smith and Derrick Alick, who operate and manage the boatyard presently, and former managing staff Junior Caisey and Uwe Lipfert, who helped to build the business.

Mr Caisey told The Royal Gazette on Thursday that he had put his “heart and soul” into the business and was “gutted”.

Mr Lawrence added: “All of the staff have allowed us to grow. It’s been a rough, rough week, but we are going to rebuild it. It is our intention to rebuild it.”