Shipyard Worker Imprisoned After Setting Submarine On Fire So He Could Leave Work
Casey James Fury, of Portsmouth, N.H., was a civilian worker painting and sandblasting inside the USS Miami, a Los Angeles class nuclear submarine based out of Groton, Conn.
The sub was undergoing maintenance work in Kittery, Maine at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
From AP:
The civilian painter and sand blaster told authorities that he needed to go home because he was suffering from an anxiety attack and had no more vacation or sick leave. He said he never envisioned such extensive damage when he used a lighter to set fire to a plastic bag of rags that he left on a bunk in a state room.
The blaze quickly grew into an inferno spewing superheated smoke that billowed from hatches. It took 12 hours for more than 100 firefighters to save the submarine.
The blaze injured seven people and caused $450 million in damages. But Fury wasn't finished.
According to the AP, three weeks later, he set another fire outside of the already-damaged sub that caused only minor damage. He pled guilty to two counts of arson.
The Miami is still undergoing extensive repairs from the blaze, but is expected to return to service in 2015.