Iran Press/America: As the fire on the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard continued for the third day, the Navy said its crews have made progress fighting flames and reducing smoke, but it is still unclear when the fire will be out.
There have been 61 injuries; 38 sailors and 23 civilians have been treated mostly for minor injuries related to firefighting, the Navy said. The last five at the hospital left by Monday afternoon.
More than 400 sailors and fire crews from across the San Diego waterfront have been fighting the blaze.
Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, said on Wednesday: “We still have an active fire, which we are combating both from within and externally from multiple access points”.
He said it’s too early to tell how much damage the fire has done to the ship and whether the ship will survive.
“We haven’t been inside of the ship well enough to get a full picture. It looks cleaner from the outside (but) inside, again, we’re still fighting a major fire.”
Holes on the ship’s island superstructure after fire
There are still two main fires burning, he said, one in the forward part of the ship and one after. In the forward section, crews haven’t been able to get to the fire because it was too hot, he said.
Both fires appear to be in the upper part of the ship. Crews have been trying to cool the metal in the ship since the fire broke out Sunday morning.
Navy helicopters from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 3 have made about 1,200 water bucket dumps, Sobeck said.
The ship on fire is carrying 1 million gallons of fuel.
This is one of the biggest fires on a Navy ship outside of combat.
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