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Carrier arrives in San Diego for fire repairs

NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. — The aircraft carrier George Washington pulled into a berth here Tuesday evening for an undetermined stay while shipyard repair teams inspect, assess and fix damage caused by last week’s fire that slightly injured two dozen sailors.

The May 22 fire broke out near the aft refrigeration and air conditioning space and auxiliary boiler room aboard the nuclear-powered ship, which on April 7 left its former Norfolk, Va., homeport to join the Navy’s forward-deployed forces in Japan.

One sailor suffered first-degree burns and 23 others were treated for heat stress and smoke inhalation during the fire, but there were no serious injuries, Navy officials said.

The fire, which the skipper described as “significant,” had started near an auxiliary boiler space and spread through a cable supply and exhaust trunk. Capt. Dave Dykhoff, George Washington’s commanding officer called it “probably the worst one I’ve been involved with.”

George Washington was at sea doing a replenishment with the frigate Crommelin off the coast of South America when the fire broke out at about 7:50 a.m. May 22. The carrier at the time was en route to a scheduled stop in San Diego after visiting the Chilean port city of Valparaiso.

The ship’s propulsion systems were unaffected by the fire, which officials said did not threaten the reactor. The cause of the fire was still under investigation, Dykhoff said, and it was unclear on Tuesday just how extensive the repairs will be.

“I think we’ll know within a couple of days,” he said.

Temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit threatened many sailors as damage control teams helped fight the fire through several decks and blistering heat that had trapped a group of four sailors in a pump room.

“The path was blocked by the fire,” Dykhoff said. “Certainly, there was a lot of anxiety.”

Over several hours, as fire damaged some communication lines, the trapped sailors learned of the ongoing efforts to quell the fire by the announcements on the ship’s 1MC speaker system. “Eventually, one team made it down to pull them out,” Dykhoff said.

None of the four sailors was hurt, said Lt. Cmdr. Bill Urban, George Washington’s public affairs officer.

Damage Controlman 2nd Class Stephanie Jeffcoat and her team were among those who reached the four and got them to safety after several attempts.

“I was extremely happy that we finally got them out,” said Jeffcoat, 23, speaking at the pier shortly after the carrier berthed at North Island.

With each attempt, she said, “you’re always thinking ... this is the time we’re going to get them out.”

Once the ship’s crew went to general quarters, sailors fighting the fires lost track of time as their adrenaline surged and heat built up in the ship’s spaces. It was not a drill. Smoke filled passageways and spaces, blocking views and choking the air, and anxious sailors struggled to control their breathing and calm their nerves. The intense heat blistered any skin that became exposed.

Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class (AW/SW) Daniel Russell pulled back his left shirt cuff to show a quarter-sized scab. “You couldn’t see your hand in front of you,” said Russell, 29.

For several hours, Russell and his team fought their way through the spaces near the No. 3 pump room before he eventually was evacuated to medical.

“Nobody really knew the source of the fire. It was so hot,” he said. “We were trying to get to the hottest spots and cool it down.”

The heat was so intense, “the water on the deck was boiling,” he added. “It was so hot, you were just baking in your suit.”

More than 15 firefighting teams responded.

Senior Chief Damage Controlman (SW/AW) Dwight Hill and his teams with engineering department fought the fire for about five hours. “The heat of the fire was just so intense. It took so long to get into the spaces,” said Hill, noting that thermal imaging in some spaces showed temperatures of “300, 400 degrees.”

Hill was 10 decks away when general quarters sounded. “We had to instinctively [react]. That’s how we trained,” he said.

While sailors constantly prepare to fight fires, he noted, “you can’t teach the intensity of the fire.” He was heartened by how the crew performed despite the heat and stress, and added, “We got our sailors out safe and unscathed.”

The George Washington will replace Kitty Hawk, a conventionally-powered ship, which left Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on Wednesday for an eventual turnover at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

“The crew knows they did very, very good work,” Dykhoff said. “We are extremely fortunate we didn’t have any significant injuries.”

He was proud at how quickly the ship’s crew responded. “When I called ‘general quarters,’ 4,000 sailors knew where to go and knew what to do,” he added.