An aircraft carrier at sea is a dangerous environment, with an emergency being only one mistake away. When a ship is in-port or in the shipyard, this threat does not go away.

To respond to these threats, Sailors must always be trained to effectively handle any emergency situation. Sailors aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) have daily training in the form of in-port emergency team (IET) drills.

IET drills put Sailors into simulated emergencies such as fire, flooding, toxic gas leaks and many other possible emergency scenarios to ensure they can be combatted quickly and effectively.

"Our purpose is to combat any and all casualties that happen while the ship is in-port," said Damage Controlman 2nd Class Daniel Sawyer, a duty fire marshal. "We're the first line of defense when everyone goes home for the day, so it's important that we stay ready to fight any casualty that can happen."

Sailors are trained the same in the shipyard as they are out to sea on how to deal with anything from a small fire to a crack in the ship's hull.

"We protect the ship from all sorts of fires, toxic gases and flooding," said Damage Controlman 3rd Class Kevin Peters, a member of IET. "Everyone takes the roles that they have very seriously and are ready to respond if the bells start ringing."

Each of the 10 duty sections are trained every duty day on how to combat casualties through different scenarios. This training becomes especially important because of the higher-risk issues arising.

"With us being dry docked, the threat of a fire or any other kind of emergency has skyrocketed," said Sawyer. "That puts a lot of responsibility on us to stay trained and to keep everyone knowledgeable on how to handle situations for when, not if, they happen."

With all the hot-work happening around the ship, fires are an ever-present threat the ship faces. Now more than ever, Sailors have to be ready to go at a moment's notice to save the ship.

George Washington is currently dry-docked at Newport News Shipyard, slated for a 48-month refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) maintenance period.

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