Two days later, the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard is still on fire.
As of Monday afternoon, 59 personnel -- 36 U.S. Navy Sailors and 23 civilians -- had been treated for minor injuries including heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. While some of these individuals required hospitalization, all those provided medical care have since been discharged.
The fire was first reported Sunday morning around 8:30 a.m. While its cause is still undetermined and under investigation, Navy leadership said that they believe it started in a storage area of the ship which is currently docked in San Diego undergoing maintenance.
Over the two days since, hundreds of sailors and firefighters have been working onboard and alongside the USS Bonhomme Richard to combat the flames. Coast Guard vessels have been hosing down fires from the bay, and helicopters with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 3 were dispatched with water baskets. There is now so much water aboard the boat that it is listing to one side.
Maintenance measures have made fighting the fire difficult. Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, told reporters that scaffolding from the maintenance work has fallen and created additional obstacles to those firefighters already face onboard the Bonhomme Richard. Firefighters are moving compartment by compartment, assessing safety levels as they progress.
As of Sunday evening, at the end of the first day of firefighting, Sobeck was still confident the Bonhomme Richard could be saved.
"We’re absolutely going to make sure it sails again,” Sobeck told reporters Sunday. “She was in a stage of repair anyway, so we’ll get right back at it once we get this thing contained.”
Now, however, the fire has progressed far further and resulted in far more damage than had occurred by Sunday evening -- and continues to burn.
“We are grateful for the quick and immediate response of local, base, and shipboard firefighters aboard USS Bonhomme Richard,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our BHR Sailors, their families, and our emergency responders who continue to fight the fire. Godspeed.”
--