Fire reported on SSN 755/USS Miami

[Catbird]

Fire, nuclear, submarine... 3 words that you don't want to see in the same sentence.

Not many details as of yet.


Fire reported on nuclear submarine in Maine

The Portsmouth Fire Department is responding to the fire on the USS Miami SSN 755.

Shipyard public affairs specialist Gary Hildreth says the fire is located in the forward compartment of the ship.

He says emergency personnel are on the scene.

All nonessential personnel have been evacuated from the ship.

[Potemkin]

Shipyard public affairs specialist Gary Hildreth says the fire is located in the forward compartment of the ship.

Torpedos and missile launch tubes are forward.

Read more: http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/Fir...#ixzz1vjzjIQB6

[Catbird]

And some further detail.

Seacoast online:

Multiple firefighters were reportedly injured while battling a fire aboard the USS Miami nuclear-powered attack submarine Wednesday evening at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, according to a shipyard official and emergency radio communications.

Firefighters were initially called to the Shipyard just before 6 p.m. for a report of a fire on a ship in dry dock. According to emergency scanner traffic, fire crews encountered heavy smoke and fire and two firefighters were taken from the scene with injuries. Two additional firefighters were later reported as requiring transport from the scene.

...As of 7:30 p.m., black smoke visible from Prescott Park in Portsmouth, N.H., continued to billow from the dry dock. A Portsmouth fire truck was on standby at Peirce Island.

[Potemkin]

[Catbird]

Originally Posted by Potemkin

Torpedos and missile launch tubes are forward.

The good news is that according to USCarriers.net :

"March 1, 2012 SSN 755 arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for a 20-month engineered overhaul and modernization period. The sub entered the dry-dock on March 15."

So any live armament was likely removed when it arrived.

ETA: WaPo reporting: "The shipyard says the sub’s reactor wasn’t operating at the time of Wednesday evening’s fire and wasn’t affected."

[Potemkin]

File:USS Santa Fe (SSN-763) VLS doors open.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US...doors_open.jpg

[Catbird]

4 alarms is getting serious.

Seacoast online:

"A four-alarm fire was still burning aboard the USS Miami nuclear-powered submarine Wednesday night at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, more than four hours after it began, according to the yard's commander.

Base Commander Capt. Bryant Fuller said at about 10:15 p.m. that the cause of the fire is still unknown...

Smoke was visible in the area of the dry dock by about 9:30 p.m., and just after 10 p.m., the fire aboard the submarine, docked at Dry Dock 2, went to four alarms and fire dispatchers were describing the fire as "moderate."

At 10:45 p.m. a Portsmouth ambulance was called to Gate 1 of the shipyard, according to radio communications. Shortly afterwards, an engine and a foam trailer from Logan Airport in Boston, Mass., arrived at the scene. According to the Boston Sparks Association, a fire buff club founded in 1938, an engine from the submarine base in Groton, Conn. was also responding. Apparatus from Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts arrived shortly after 11 p.m."

[spinnerholic]

Lovely, lovely words in the above article -

>>According to Fuller, the cause of the fire is still unknown but a full investigation would follow. He said the nuclear reactor is not active and that there are no weapons aboard the ship.<<

Going to 4 alarms and classifying the fire as "moderate" do seem to clash, don't they?

What the heck is in the fore part of that sub that is so flammable and burns with such intensity?

[Catbird]

Some new info with a little more detail.

"Fire on nuclear sub at Maine shipyard hurts 7"

"Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge, commander of Submarine Group Two, said the fire was out Thursday morning and the shipyard was open as usual. He said the three shipyard firefighters, two civilian firefighters and two crew members received minor injuries and were in good shape.

Breckenridge called their efforts heroic, saying the extreme heat and smoke in the contained spaces made it very challenging for them. "Their efforts clearly minimized the severity of this event," he said at a brief news conference.

Breckenridge said the fire started in the four forward compartments, which include living and command and control spaces. "

Originally Posted by spinnerholic

Lovely, lovely words in the above article -

>>According to Fuller, the cause of the fire is still unknown but a full investigation would follow. He said the nuclear reactor is not active and that there are no weapons aboard the ship.<<

Going to 4 alarms and classifying the fire as "moderate" do seem to clash, don't they?

What the heck is in the fore part of that sub that is so flammable and burns with such intensity?

I don't know exactly but can guess a few things. The "command & control" area would be full of electronics and wiring. The crew compartments means lots of mattresses which could smolder and would probably have to be removed. I also wonder about the painted surfaces. Marine grade paint is not the same as the latex stuff that we use to paint our living rooms , and is likely more flammable and toxic when exposed to heat. There's also the possibility that some areas of the sub have acoustic coatings - stuff put on the decks and stairs to reduce noise, and that could burn. And then there could be stuff related to the maintenance and upgrades being done like equipment and tools, maybe even some gas cylinders for torch work.

It does seem like it was a pretty significant fire and it's going to be interesting to see what an investigation reveals about the cause.

[Potemkin]

Originally Posted by spinnerholic

Going to 4 alarms and classifying the fire as "moderate" do seem to clash, don't they?

Well, yes, but there are circumstances.

I have seen department pull alarms in certain circumstances.

Perhaps they just needed extra manpower
Perhaps they needed special equipment. (Scott air packs, the filler truck, etc.)
Perhaps it was extra hot in the close quarters and they needed to rotate people in and out.
Perhaps they needed HAZMAT decontamination crew/truck because of chemicals.

Some states, during a fire scene, the Fire Commander is the lead agency over the scene, even law enforcement.

A couple of times I have seen Scene Commander tell firefighters, in obvious gear, to stand in a location and not let anyone pass. (Like lookie loos, the press, etc.)

If someone persists, the Scene Commander just points to the offender and tells the Police officer to take the person into customer for interference.

[flourbug]

I just found out my son in law's cousin is stationed on that boat. They are very close.

"He called last night to say it was about to hit the news, but he's ok. (He was a first responder and was fighting that fire for about 2hrs)"

I knew he was in the Navy but he lives in NJ so I never thought he would be up there. Small world.

[Catbird]

Glad that he's okay fb. From what I've read today, it was a pretty intense fire and was very difficult to deal with.

Good detail in this article from The Kennebec Journal.

[Catbird]

"Extent of submarine fire damage not clear"

"...“It’s like going into a chimney,” said Portsmouth Naval Shipyard firefighter David Funk, who described insulation and wiring fueling a smoky fire that became hot enough for aluminum to burst into flames.

On Friday, two days after the blaze began, workers at the shipyard finished pumping fresh air into the fire-damaged sub, allowing Navy investigators to enter to begin the first damage assessment. It remains to be seen whether the submarine can be salvaged.

...The intensity of the fire, the lack of lighting, the thick smoke and the metal hull that trapped heat all contributed to a difficult blaze for firefighters to extinguish.

Unlike a house fire, there was no way to vent the fire by knocking out windows or using axes to create an opening, and all the smoke billowed from a small number of hatches.

“It was pretty intense, a lot of heat, a lot of smoke,” Funk said. “It’s a steel-hulled vessel. It’s basically like going into a chimney into a black void that’s superheated and trying to find the seat of the fire and get it put out.”

The blaze was so blistering hot that firefighters could only remain in place for minutes before being replaced by another firefighter, a leap-frogging technique that continued throughout the night until firefighters got the stubborn fire under control.

All told, the firefighters worked in 75 rotating shifts to battle the fire, using 3 million gallons of water, nearly filling some compartments, Snowe said."

[Catbird]

The irony is beyond words. One of the most technologically advanced things made is all but destroyed by a vacuum cleaner.

"Vacuum Caused Submarine Fire: Report"

"The fire that caused nearly $400 million in damage to the U.S.S. Miami was caused by a vacuum cleaner, according to a report from the U.S. Navy.

"Preliminary findings indicate the fire started in a vacuum cleaner used to clean worksites at end of shift, and stored in an unoccupied space," said a statement from Deb White, Public Affairs Officer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

An early estimate from the U.S. Navy puts the price tag of repairs for a fire-damaged Groton-based submarine in the range of about $400 million, according to U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine.

Her figure contrasts with an estimate a week ago from Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal of $700 million to $1 billion for repairs.

...Pingree said the number could change, but the early number is "a workable figure" and that she's optimistic the sub can be repaired."

[Catbird]

UPDATE:
"Worker charged with arsons in Maine sub fire"

"Navy investigators say a civilian employee working as a painter and sandblaster aboard a submarine at a Maine shipyard has been charged with setting a fire that heavily damaged the vessel in May, and a second near it in June.

In a complaint filed Monday in federal court in Maine, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service says 24-year-old Casey James Fury has been charged with two counts of arson involving the USS Miami.

...Court documents say Fury was assigned to do paint stripping in the torpedo room. He first denied involvement in the fires, then later admitted involvement."