First responders rescued four people from a burning boat off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday.

The 61-foot sailboat was about one mile offshore when flames broke out, Canaveral Fire Rescue confirmed to Fox News Digital. 

Witness video taken from nearby Jetty Park Beach shows thick, dark smoke billowing over the ocean. 

The man who took the video told newsgathering website Storyful that the boat “went up real fast” and it “sounded like there were a few explosions.”

The sailboat that caught fire offshore of Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 28, 2025 appears to be named “Aurora.”  (Canaveral Fire Rescue)

Visitors at the beach strolled a brief distance away from the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket situated on launch pad 39A (upper right) close to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on April 11, 2019. (GREGG NEWTON/AFP)

Cape Canaveral serves as a central location for U.S. space exploration. It accommodates the Kennedy Space Center, where launches are conducted for NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin, along with a military base for the Space Force.