Engineer: Navy warship fire might be electrical, not arson
By Julie Watson, The Associated Press
Dec 15, 06:42 PM
SAN DIEGO — An electrical engineer who examined the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard after it was destroyed by fire last year testified Wednesday that it might have started with an electrical malfunction rather than arson.
Andrew Thoresen was hired by the defense attorneys representing the junior sailor accused of setting the fire aboard the ship. He told a military court during a preliminary hearing that he found highly combustible lithium ion batteries with their caps blown off and a copper cable with a melted end in the engine of a forklift, indicating it may have sparked the fire.
“They cannot be eliminated” as a source of the fire, said Thoresen, who has examined 3,000 fire scenes as a forensic electrical engineer.
Both the batteries and forklift were inside the lower vehicle storage area of the warship where a military fire investigator determined the July 12, 2020, fire was started by someone who ignited carboard boxes stored there.
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2021/12/15/engineer-navy-warship-fire-might-be-electrical-not-arson/
