Posted on Dec 21, 2021
Experts Criticize ATF, Navy Finding on Cause of Bonhomme Richard Fire; Case Against Sailor...
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An expert in electrical engineering told a Navy court that an electrical short in a forklift or some faulty batteries could have sparked the fire that ultimately led the service to scrap the former USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6), countering the Navy’s acceptance from a federal fire investigation that a disgruntled sailor deliberately set it.
Andrew Thoresen, a forensics engineer, said that in a limited, four-hour visit to the ship’s lower vehicle deck one year ago, he found a wire in a forklift’s main conductor feed had a “globule” of melted copper wires.
Such a globule likely was the result of a “localized spot” of arcing activity that would generate high heat by touching the metal framing, ignite nearby flammable materials strewn about the stowage area “and cause the damage we have in this case,” Thoresen testified Wednesday at the Article 32 preliminary hearing for Seaman Apprentice Ryan Mays, accused of hazarding a vessel and aggravated arson in the July 12, 2020 fire aboard Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego.
Andrew Thoresen, a forensics engineer, said that in a limited, four-hour visit to the ship’s lower vehicle deck one year ago, he found a wire in a forklift’s main conductor feed had a “globule” of melted copper wires.
Such a globule likely was the result of a “localized spot” of arcing activity that would generate high heat by touching the metal framing, ignite nearby flammable materials strewn about the stowage area “and cause the damage we have in this case,” Thoresen testified Wednesday at the Article 32 preliminary hearing for Seaman Apprentice Ryan Mays, accused of hazarding a vessel and aggravated arson in the July 12, 2020 fire aboard Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego.
Experts Criticize ATF, Navy Finding on Cause of Bonhomme Richard Fire; Case Against Sailor...
Posted from news.usni.org
Firefighting
Court Martial
San Diego
Posted >1 y ago
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I have seen an arc from a fully charged Forklift, should say saw the light and heard the discharge, scared the scrap out of me and I was only close. The guy working on it said it felt like a sledge hammer hit his shoulder. He had burns in two places on his arm and shoulder, I think he was lucky to walk away.
Bottom line if that shorted out, yes it could have easily started a fire.
Bottom line if that shorted out, yes it could have easily started a fire.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Another ‘Potential Suspect’
Attorneys and prosecutors haggled Wednesday over additional information and evidence that Tang should consider before she makes her recommendation to Koehler.
Lt. Tayler Haggerty, a defense attorney, sought to include the voluminous JAGMAN report that details and concludes that the fire spread “because of the unpreparedness of the Bonhomme Richard.”
“This happened because the ship was … a disaster waiting to happen,” Haggerty said.
But prosecutor Federico disagreed, telling Tang that it was “not relevant” to the case.
Haggerty also wants Tang to consider information that another Bonhomme Richard sailor – who a witness said she saw and recognized in the Lower V before the fire – is “a potential suspect” in the fire. Both that sailor and the witness who saw the sailor in the Lower V were interviewed by NCIS.
But Federico objected, saying that suspected sailor, who has since been kicked out of the Navy for unstated reasons, is “a distraction on the side. They also objected to evidence from that female sailor, who said she saw him on the ramp while she was returning to the hangar bay after stopping at the vending machines on a lower deck.
The charges against Mays, Federico told Mays in closing arguments, should be handled at a general court-martial.
But Barthel argued that the government has insufficient evidence to prove probable cause against Mays, who he said became a “target for false allegations.”
The ATF investigation “failed to establish that this was an incendiary event,” he said, and “created a narrative” partly from questionable witness statements and without any physical evidence.
“The government’s case is built on theory and conjecture,” he added."
..."Another ‘Potential Suspect’
Attorneys and prosecutors haggled Wednesday over additional information and evidence that Tang should consider before she makes her recommendation to Koehler.
Lt. Tayler Haggerty, a defense attorney, sought to include the voluminous JAGMAN report that details and concludes that the fire spread “because of the unpreparedness of the Bonhomme Richard.”
“This happened because the ship was … a disaster waiting to happen,” Haggerty said.
But prosecutor Federico disagreed, telling Tang that it was “not relevant” to the case.
Haggerty also wants Tang to consider information that another Bonhomme Richard sailor – who a witness said she saw and recognized in the Lower V before the fire – is “a potential suspect” in the fire. Both that sailor and the witness who saw the sailor in the Lower V were interviewed by NCIS.
But Federico objected, saying that suspected sailor, who has since been kicked out of the Navy for unstated reasons, is “a distraction on the side. They also objected to evidence from that female sailor, who said she saw him on the ramp while she was returning to the hangar bay after stopping at the vending machines on a lower deck.
The charges against Mays, Federico told Mays in closing arguments, should be handled at a general court-martial.
But Barthel argued that the government has insufficient evidence to prove probable cause against Mays, who he said became a “target for false allegations.”
The ATF investigation “failed to establish that this was an incendiary event,” he said, and “created a narrative” partly from questionable witness statements and without any physical evidence.
“The government’s case is built on theory and conjecture,” he added."
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