On 22 May 2008, while the ship was off the Pacific Coast of South America, a fire broke out and injured 37 sailors, with no fatalities, in an incident described by the Navy as "serious". According to a statement from Naval Air Forces' public affairs office, the fire broke out in the ship's air-conditioning and refrigeration space and an auxiliary boiler room. The fire spread via a cableway and ventilation ducting and caused extreme temperatures in some parts of the ship. It took over twelve hours for the crew to contain and extinguish the fire, one of the largest non-combat fires aboard a U.S. Naval vessel since the devastating fire on board in 1967.