The Burner Man
By: William M. McCurrach
When you stand back and watch a boiler man
work the burners during a drill or a deployment, the intensity and tension can
build. The heat level in a fire room aboard a naval ship is intense at times,
in warmer climates, it can reach 120 degrees, yet that burner man must sit and
stare at those fires, in case they do go out. He sweats as he stares through
that glass view port, hoping the fires will continue to burn, the front of that
boiler a few feet from his face, the air register flapper valve stands in the
open position and the fuel valve is wide open. On a 1200 pound D-type boiler
six burners can blaze at once. In the background he can hear the pumps and
blowers whine and the steam reducers hiss. He stands under the fluorescent
lights as they stay bright, his feet in his boots hot, and against the metal
deck plates, with diamond shapes in them. His hands and body become a blur of
motion if the boiler fires should go out. His job is to secure the boiler front
as fast as possible, I know I lived it. The call for more steam by the bridge
to feed the engines can come at any time, and he must stand at the ready.
He stares at the burners or he read his manuals of operations and
emergency procedures. He has to know all the reasons a boiler may go out and
why and what to do. Where is the emergency fuel cutout, the upper level man
watches the blowers and pumps and water levels if they go low, emergency
shutdown can commence. The burner man must be ready. What do you do for high water, low water,
ruptured tube, loss of feed pumps or any other vital equipment. Ruptured fuel lines , loss of fuel pressure
and so many more. The men on the deck plates must be ready. These Boiler Technicians
are vital to the ships the Navy has, and they are the blood and strength of the
Navy in more ways than one. They are the primary Engineers without whom no
steam-driven ship can move, nor can the Navy fight without.
As a burner goes out this burner man reacts quickly pulling emergency
fuel stops, closing registers and fuel valves and stopping the oil from flowing
into the firebox of the boiler. His body and forehead soaked in sweat as the
heat rises in the fire room, because there is no steam to power the generators
now and the air vents go dead. By the time the burner man finishes and drops
the six burner barrels on the deck plates, his body aches and the sweat
drenches him. Yet, as soon as the reason for the shutdown is found and fixed he
stands ready to do it all again. Yes sailors do complain and yes they get angry
when things go wrong, but, in the end it is the man on the deck plates, that
burner man who makes sure no one dies in a fuel explosion or worse. He makes
sure his ship does not stay dead at sea as a target for an enemy, missile or
torpedo.
I know this burner man, this man who did this and kept his ships moving
and did the job well. He paid his price in the end, due to a fall down a ladder
of 24 steel rungs. But he survives each day knowing he did what was right, with
6 bad discs that make it hard to sleep at night. And if you see him, walking
through a store or down the street one day, and he is stooped or walking funny,
don’t laugh at him, he is a Disabled Veteran today and proud he served the USA.
The End
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