George Washington (CVN 73) - Naval Cruise Book

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aft on the flight deck were moved forward to avoid the flames from reaching them, which would have made a bad situation even worse. The “smash and crash” crew, as well as everyone else on the flight deck, responded in textbook fashion. Minutes after smoke was reported, all aircraft were out of danger. LCDR Tom Reed, the ship's maintenance manager, credited the crew with stopping a disaster before it got out of hand. Their ability to isolate the fire saved lives. The fire party can’t fight a fire of that size without relief.” Reed explained. We had four teams going at once. It was a hell of an effort by the at-sea fire party, the crew and the airwing. That fire could have done much more damage.” LCDR Mike Waters, the ship’s legal officer, was the repair locker officer for Repair 7A. the locker closest to the fire. He concurred with Reed’s assessment of the crew’s actions, saying: “My guys performed perfectly...It felt like a drill, not an actual fire. I smelled smoke 40 frames forward but the actual fire was confined to a relatively small area in the rear of the ship. Crews were deployed above and to the side of the fire. ‘That meant we kind of cornered it and worked on putting it out.. not giving it the chance to spread.” Waters added. The senior enlisted damage control expert aboard George Washington. DCCM(SW) Edgar Burris, has been called a training zealot by the men who work for him. Burris credited training as the number one reason the quick response and efficient performance by his teams was possible, but added that another factor was just as important. We were extremely lucky,” Burris admitted. The location of the fire, the time of night, the quick response ... all these things were in our favor. he said. “I don’t want anyone to get complacent. Yes, we did a good job, but every fire is different. And. the next one they face, here or at their next command, will be different. They now have the knowledge that they can fight a tough fire and come out on top. As members of the at sea fire party. DC3 Jeff Baptista and DCFN Craig Gundersen were two of the first men on the scene. I knew that everything I’d trained for during the last three years would come down to that night, Baptista said. We worked together with the entire crew...I’m proud of all of us. Gundersen believes communication was one of the things that allowed everyone to work as a team. Once things got rolling, there Continued on page 112 110 Underway

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Twelve levels above, on the bridge. CAPT Sprigg was in constant communication with all locations of the ship. “I got reports of flames sighted on the aft starboard sponson. Sprigg said. “Flames could be seen rising up on the outside of the ship.” CAPT Sprigg. having asccr- This crew performed better than any I’ve seen. They listened to their chain of command and did what was needed to be done. I’m proud of the entire crew. They really came through in a bad situation.” CAPT Robert G. Sprigg tained that the situation was too great for the at-sea fire party alone, ordered the ship to general quarters. “There arc a lot of berthing areas in that area and at that time of night there are going to be Sailors in those areas,” CAPT Sprigg said. “We went to general quarters in order to get those guys out of the area and put them in a position to help fight the fire if the need came up.” When that word was passed, the entire tone of the ship changed. Progressive word of smoke and fire, giving way to general quarters, was call for alarm. The crew, sensing something was wrong, scrambled to general quarters quickly, but quieter than normal. If word was to be passed, they wanted to hear it. In the skies above, all in-bound aircraft were diverted to shore stations in Italy. Although GW could have recovered these aircraft if required, the men whose normal job is to safely recover them were fighting the fire from above as they aimed fire hoses over the starboard side of the ship. Additionally, all aircraft spotted Continued on next page Underway 109

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