On the recordJune 7, 2012
I rise today in support of a resolution recognizing the incredible courage and tremendous skill of the firefighters and emergency first responders who extinguished the fire aboard the USS Miami (SSN 755), a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine, 2 weeks ago at Kittery-Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, ME. At approximately 5:41 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23, 2012, a four-alarm fire broke out inside the forward compartment of the USS Miami, which was 3 months into a 20-month overhaul at Kittery-Portsmouth. More than 100 first responders from 23 locations in 4 separate States responded to successfully contain the damage of the blaze and ensure that there was no tragic loss of life. With nothing less than fearless determination in the face of what has been called the most significant emergency to strike the shipyard in decades, brave firefighters battled zero visibility in tight, obstructed quarters filled with noxious smoke and searing heat for more than 10 hours to limit the fire to the forward quarters of the ship and eventually extinguish it entirely. Due to the unimaginably challenging space constraints, Kittery- Portsmouth firefighters, in a command capacity and with a succinct collaborative effort with shipyard project team personnel, directed the rotation of multiple waves of groups of only three or four firefighters at a time to descend two stories into the ship to push back the flames.…
