A small fire broke out Wednesday on the SS Ste. Claire, an iconic piece of Detroit history whose future remains uncertain following a devastating fire last summer.

A police harbormaster unit patrolling on the Detroit River spotted smoke coming from the vessel at about 4:30 p.m. Officers knocked down the flames and called the fire department, which finished extinguishing the blaze, Detroit Deputy Fire Commissioner Dave Fornell said.

"It was relatively minor," Fornell said. "We got it out in about 10 or 15 minutes."

The fire was on wooden decking. Its exact cause was not immediately clear; Fornell said it may have been accidentally sparked by workers on board. No one was injured.

Ste. Claire owner Ron Kattoo told the Free Press on Wednesday night he wasn't aware of the fire. He also said he's still moving forward with plans to renovate the 109-year-old steamer, which today sits as a rusted shell at Riverside Marina.

More:Boblo boat Ste. Claire owners launch fundraising campaign to rebuild

More:Ste. Claire's future uncertain after devastating Boblo boat fire

"I continue to plan on getting her rebuilt," he said.

The Ste. Claire was launched in 1910. Along with its sister, the 1902-built SS Columbia, it spent most of its life whisking Detroiters to Boblo Island, 18 miles southwest of Windsor. The now defunct amusement park took the boats out of operation in 1991.

Kattoo purchased the Ste. Claire in 2007 for $250,000. He previously said he wants to fix it up and turn it into a floating banquet hall and family entertainment space.

But those plans were derailed when a massive fire tore through the boat on July 6, 2018. Fire officials said a welder was working on board when sparks or flaming debris landed on combustible material. The fire was ruled an accident.

“It’s been a 10-year project," Kattoo said at the time. "If you look at the bow, we had cleaned it up, got all the rust off. This is a Detroit icon and we were hoping to bring her back.

“We know how much this boat means to a lot of people. It’s just hard to see it like this now.”

After the blaze, Kattoo launched a GoFundMe fundraiser that aimed to raise $500,000 to restore the Ste. Claire. But 10 months later, just over $5,000 has been raised.

It's unclear what the Ste. Claire's future holds. After commenting briefly to the Free Press on Wednesday, Kattoo, a Henry Ford Hospital doctor, said he wanted to check into the fire that happened earlier in the day and would call back. He never did.

There were no signs of life aboard Ste. Claire as rain fell on a dreary Wednesday night. A trailer parked nearby on shore labeled "Boblo Boat SS Ste. Claire Construction Office" appeared to be empty.

The Ste. Claire's sister ship has fared better. The Columbia was towed out of Michigan in 2015 thanks to a New York preservation group that has been working to save it.

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Contact Ann Zaniewski: 313-222-6594 or azaniewski@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AnnZaniewski.