A fire occurred on board the French aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" on October 5. The ship is currently undergoing maintenance at the naval base in Toulon and is expected to remain there until early December, writes Le Figaro.
The fire started after welding work using a gas torch in one of the ship's technical compartments. The alarm went off shortly before 11:30 AM. The blaze occurred in a room no larger than 10 square meters, located near the aircraft hangar. During maintenance, the ship is in port, so there are no aircraft in the hangar.
Crew members were the first to fight the fire. Later, firefighters from the Toulon naval base arrived to assist them. The fire was localized at 12:35 PM, and fully extinguished at 1:50 PM.
According to maritime authorities of the Mediterranean region, the preliminary cause of the fire is believed to be metal cutting work with a gas torch. An investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing at the scene, with additional forces from the Marseille marine fire brigade battalion also joining.
No one was injured. Also, no impact of the fire on the aircraft carrier's nuclear installations was detected.
The "Charles de Gaulle" has been undergoing maintenance since the end of August. Until this summer, the ship was deployed in the eastern Mediterranean amid the threat of an expanding military conflict in the Middle East.
The "Charles de Gaulle" is one of the few nuclear aircraft carriers in the world. Only two countries possess such aircraft carriers — the USA, which has 11, and France. It is expected that in 2038, the French ship will be replaced by a new aircraft carrier, "La France Libre" (Free France).
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