MITAGS Selected by US Navy for Firefighting and Damage Control Training

The Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) has been selected by the U.S. Navy to provide mission critical firefighting and damage control training to Navy and Coast Guard sailors stationed in the Seattle, Washington area. Training standards require that all sailors must be prepared to combat fires or flooding at any time, whether at sea or in port. The Pacific Northwest is the only part of the world where the Navy contracts this type of training to a civilian fire school.

The MITAGS trainer, named the M/V Fire Dragon, was designed and built for the sole purpose of helping mariners practice the skills essential to controlling fire and managing flooding aboard ship. Live exercises take place in a number of interior compartments which replicate the conditions found aboard military vessels – engine rooms, pump rooms, galley, and living quarters.

In preparation for this new contract, the structure has benefitted from a number of technology and capacity upgrades. The Fire Dragon can now support scenarios that simultaneously combine multi-compartment fires along with ruptured pipes, holes in the hull, and weakened doors, hatches and bulkheads.

MITAGS’ Director of Business Development, Capt. Jon Kjaerulff, who is overseeing the implementation of the contract, says, “We are very excited for this opportunity to serve our Pacific Northwest Navy and Coast Guard service members, and provide quality training to help keep them safe.” Capt. Kjaerulff, himself a Navy veteran, emphasizes that many of the instructors teaching these programs have also served in the military. “It is our honor to serve the men and women who serve on the front lines of freedom,” he says.

MITAGS was awarded a five-year contract, with training set to begin in January of 2022. This is the largest single contract MITAGS has been awarded in its 40 plus year history, resulting in the creation of eight new full-time jobs. In addition, MITAGS is committed to utilizing veteran-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, HUBZone small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses (including ANCs and Indian tribes) and women-owned small business as subcontractors to assist with fulfilling parts of this contract.