USS Bonhomme Richard, an aircraft carrier, caught fire on Sunday morning in San Diego, resulting in an internal explosion due to over-pressurization with heat. One hundred & sixty sailors were on board at the time of blast; no casualties reported. Navy and Federal firefighters are putting in their best efforts to get control over a situation that seemingly is getting worse.
Authorities are not leaving any possible solution to save one of the few aircraft carriers, said Rear Admiral Sobeck. The situation is getting worse as the ship is tilting towards one side. Another alarming factor is only two decks distance left between fire source and fuel. An oil clean up crew is working for the installation of a containment boom in case of an oil spill.
A million gallons of an oil spill is estimated in case the ship sinks at San Diego harbor. It could cause billions of dollars of environmental damage alongside the damage to a very worthy asset of the state.
Firefighter helicopters alongside the navy boats and coast-guard are all engaged in an attempt to control this worsened situation; however, conditions are not in favor of those fighting the fire as temperatures are ranging to be as high as thousand-degree celsius.
Where Navy’s Admiral Sobeck is decisive in getting control over this situation & getting the ship back to run normally, a contradicting statement came out from the fire chief of chances are the amphibious assault ship would turn into a complete wreck.
The halon-Gas system, which usually combats such situations was not operating at the time of the incident as it was undergoing maintenance work, said the authorities.
Commissioned in 1998, this aircraft carrier was meant to remain in service till 2030. Two Hundred & Fifty Million were spent recently on the carrier ship to allow the operations of F-35 along with other vital roles.
