Kennedy Space Center VAB fire

[RCL]

At apporox 1145 today, 2.5 hours after the Artemis 1 rocket was brought back to the VAB to ride out the hurricane, a small fire broke out in High Bay 3. Apparently a 400 volt( I'm thinking misprint in the article which said 40) panel caught fire.

If you've never been in the VAB basically its 4 buildings in 1. When you look outside and see grey doors that go from the ground to the roof each door is 1 high bay. Theres a giant hallway that separates the 2 sets. I forget what bays are what numbers but basically a part enters the small bldg near the water and a crane puts it where it needs to go. I think 2 bays are not being used, 1 is being used fir Artemis and the other is available for rent so to speak as a gp bay.

 

[Bulldog]

I believe that 2 of the bays have the crawlers in them, one for Artemis and the other for something else. That's how it was when the shuttle were launching, I'm sure they have to keep both crawlers inside when not in use for maintenance considerations.

 

[AYoung]

I believe that 2 of the bays have the crawlers in them, one for Artemis and the other for something else. That's how it was when the shuttle were launching, I'm sure they have to keep both crawlers inside when not in use for maintenance considerations.

I was down there about 2 summers ago and did a tour. They said, at least at that time, they kept both crawlers outside. We drove right by one. You really can’t grasp how big both the crawler and VAB are until you’re in the shadow of it. Enormous just doesn’t cover it.

 

[RCL]

We took the tour there after the shuttles were retired and you really don't have an appreciation for their size and even the bldg unt your next to them. I is uaully parled outsode the bldg and the other is staged about halfway between the VAB and the pads. Occasionally they will bring them into the VAB for maintenance and conversion work. We had an excellent tour guide who was very knowledgeable about the bldg and he was telling us that 1 crawler is dedicated to Artemis and the other is a general purpose. Of the 4 bays, 1 was set up for Aretemis 1 is cleared for gp use and the other 2 I think are still set up for Apollo. The remains of Columbia are in 1 of the high bays at about the 106 foot level.

 

[nfdcanman]

Interesting they are planning on closing 1 of the 3 FD stations @ Kennedy Space Center

 

[Bulldog]

Interesting they are planning on closing 1 of the 3 FD stations @ Kennedy Space Center

If the information provided earlier about the call volume is accurate I don't see how they justify keeping it open this long! Obviously we all hate to see a fire station closed but...

 

[RCL]

The

If the information provided earlier about the call volume is accurate I don't see how they justify keeping it open this long! Obviously we all hate to see a fire station closed but...

The station covers an area that was formally busy when the shuttle was active. Theres houses along the beach that were for exclusive use by the astronauts and vips. I beleive it also covers an area that the astronauts used to train in prior to their mission. Once NASA gets its act together and starts flying Artemis and Orion on a regular basis, the station probably will be relevant again.
The other thing is the Cape and KSC FD are contracts. There not a municipality like FDNY or LA. Pr even like Fed.Fire. A few years ago I looked into applying for a Batt chief position. At the time it looked good, but happened to talk to a FF at a car show that works there and found out that the contract holder had opened all of the fd positions for hire.