I was a Sonar Tech from 1986-1992 havung gine through boot camp in San Diego from August- mid October 1986.
As I remember the training it was unshielded electical wiring in the zoomie rocket that caught stray electrical emissions from another source at a near identical frequency as the launch activation signal.....and....the missiles were in whatever they called the mode when they are “live.”
I went through the 1 day live firefighting training that you me tion and remember it exactly as you do. The heat was amazingly powerful. Without that 2nd set of firefighters using the wand to beat back the heat by putting a cone of water over the crews it makes it nearly impossible to successfully fight a fuel oil/jet fuel buring fire.
Great. You explained it better than I did. It was great training...