Air Force: Nuke missile silo fire went undetected

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Source: Associated Press

DENVER – A fire caused $1 million worth of damage at an unmanned underground nuclear launch site last spring, but the Air Force didn't find out about it until five days later, an Air Force official said Thursday.

The May 23 fire burned itself out after an hour or two, and multiple safety systems prevented any threat of an accidental launch of the Minuteman III missile, Maj. Laurie Arellano said. She said she was not allowed to say whether the missile was armed with a nuclear warhead at the time of the fire.

Arellano said the Air Force didn't know a fire had occurred until May 28, when a repair crew went to the launch site — about 40 miles east of Cheyenne, Wyo., and 100 miles northeast of Denver — because a trouble signal indicated a wiring problem.

She said the flames never entered the launch tube where the missile stood and there was no danger of a radiation release.

The fire, blamed on a faulty battery charger, burned a box of shotgun shells, a shotgun and a shotgun case that were kept in the room, Arellano said. A shotgun is a standard security weapon at missile silos.

Arellano said the battery chargers at all U.S. missile launch site have been replaced.

She said the incident wasn't reported sooner because of the complexity of the investigation.
...
Cheyenne Mayor Jack Spiker, who said he learned of the incident when contacted by a reporter Thursday, said the fire doesn't undermine his confidence in the safety of the missile operations.

"It's rare that they have an accident, and the accidents have never really, that I know of, amounted to much because of the safety devices that are built into the system," he said.

The revelation was the latest in a string of embarrassing missteps involving the nation's nuclear arsenal. In 2006, four electrical fuses for ballistic missile warheads were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan, and in 2007, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped missiles when it flew between Air Force bases in North Dakota and Louisiana.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081030/ap_on_re_us/missile_silo_fire

[Parche]

1. Hmm

I find that hard to believe

I was based at Minot AFB, also a SAC missile base
and they knew if anything was amiss on those sites, they would have us (SP) out there asap,
and the repair team on their way.......

:hi:

[enlightenment]

2. But SAC is gone - and apparently so are the very high

standards they demanded.

[Thothmes]

4. Saw an article in a local publication

that said the AF was standing up an organization similiar to the old SAC command to take control of the Bombers and the Missiles. The fighter jockies that run the AF really dont want to waste time or money on strategic assets, they want to go faster.

[enlightenment]

6. Interesting. I'll have to ask my dad about that -

he was career AF; spent 26 of his 32 years in SAC - has fascinating stories to tell about the days when LeMay was in charge and he still believes the "the impossible just takes a day longer" to accomplish.

[Historic NY]

3. I find that very distressing an unmanned post with a nuke....

what about the terrorists. Its like an open invitation when security is so bad they don't know the place burned up.

[MadMaddie]

7. I agree..anything nuclear related shouldn't be unmanned

[Historic NY]

8. Were paying the Russians to get rid of nukes and we leave ours unattended...

WTF is wrong with that picture.????

[MadMaddie]

9. Seriously I think this Administration has done this on purpose

there can be no other explanation.

[Kool Kitty]

11. Because that's the REAL Bush Doctrine-

"Do As I Say, Not As I Do".

[medeak]

5. similar to explosives stolen (enough to bring down highrise)

from army depot. Military couldn't even speculate when they were taken a month ago

[Dems4me]

10. bump. n/t