The Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center has sent a fire crew to San Diego to help fight the fire on board the Navy ship in port. The Bonhomme Richard has been burning at its pier since Sunday morning. Managing editor Tami Roleff has more information…
Just a few hours after leaving the Combat Center Tuesday morning, a crew of four firefighters was helping about 400 other firefighters battle the blaze that has been burning on board the Navy ship Bonhomme Richard since Sunday morning. Assistant Chief Marcelino Ryan told Z107.7 News that the crew—Lt. James Carroll, and firefighters Jonathan Hart, Luis Flores, and Edward Martinez (who just left the Navy as a firefighter about five months ago and was hired by the Combat Center Fire Department three months ago) are on board the ship for about 45 minutes at a time—15 minutes to get to the fire, 15 minutes to fight the fire, and another 15 minutes to get out. Because the fire is so deep in the ship, the smoke and flames have nowhere to go; temperatures reach 900 to 1000 degrees inside, and the smoke is thick and hazardous.
When the crew comes off the ship, they assigned for a couple hours to a rapid intervention crew that would go on board to rescue trapped or lost firefighters. They are then given a one- or two- hour rest break, before going back on the ship as firefighters again.
Ryan expects the crew to be in San Diego until Friday; at which time another crew will be rotated in to replace them.
The blaze has melted the interior aluminum core of the ship, containing the bridge and primary flight control spaces, and the ship’s radar masts have also collapsed. It’s still not known how the fire started, but it got out of control because the ship’s fire suppression system was also under maintenance when the blaze started.
