Trigger Major Incident
FIRE REPORTS
Lightning Storm, Discarded Wire, Exposed Gas Line
A delayed alarm and automatic fire door failures contributed to a $5-million home building distribution center fire that apparently was caused by a lightning bolt near Eau Claire, Wis., last July.
More than 200 volunteer fire fighters from the Township Fire Department Inc. and several mutual-aid departments fought the massive fire for seven hours before bringing it under control. Fifteen water tankers, five private tankers, nine pumpers and one ladder truck were used.
The fire, which could be seen for at least 60 miles, was the most costly the TFD has ever fought, said Fire Chief Marshall Horlacher. The TFD, made up of five fire stations, surrounds Eau Claire on three sides, protecting 250 square miles and 15,000 people with 125 fire fighters, eight pumpers, five tankers, one ladder truck, four brush fire trucks and two utility vehicles.
The fire destroyed six of eight connected one-story, metal-sided buildings covering 2.5 acres at Menard Cash way Lumber Co.’s distribution center that was part of a much larger Menard headquarters operation approximately I mile long. The complex is the TED’s largest exposure and has been the site of several fire incidents. The distribution center, which contained a wide variety of home building supplies, including hazardous substances, had no sprinkler or fire alarm systems.
A large, powerful storm system had swept out of Minnesota after blowing down thousands of trees and snapping power lines serving more than 200,000 customers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Western Wisconsin was warned of 80 to 100-mph winds, which roared through the Eau Claire area (75 miles east of the Twin Cities) between 5:15 and 5:45 p.m. There was heavy lightning and several structures were hit throughout the rural countryside.
Ignition
One lightning bolt apparently hit on or near an 8-foot-high woven wire fence running along the northern edge of the Menard distribution center, and only 6 inches from the side of one of the buildings. Running aboveground from that building along the 6-inch space to an LP gas tank 150 feet away was a 1/2-inch-diameter copper gas line. A short length of old ¼-inch metal strand w ire, apparently discarded years ago, was situated under the gas line, with one end touching the wire fence.
Investigators say evidence indicates that an electrical charge from the lightning moved from the fence to the copper LPG line via the length of old wire, welding strands of the metal wire to the gas line. The gas line ruptured at that point, and a small gas fire began, with flames impinging directly on the side of the building a few inches away at ground level. Immediately behind the building’s corrugated metal siding was urethane foam insulation.
Delayed alarm
Between 6 and 6:20 p.m., a woman living across a farm field from the north side of the distribution center telephoned the Menard general offices and reporting seeing sparks and fire at the rear of the distribution center’s building. Menard employees investigated but found nothing.
Photo by Walt Schryver, Chippewa, Wis., Fire Protection District
About 7:20 p.m., a truck driver saw fire at the rear of the same Menard building. He reported it to a Menard security guard and they went to investigate. Several minutes later, they heard the sound of escaping gas, became frightened, and fled the area. The guard telephoned the Eau Claire city communications center. The communications center radioed an alarm to the TFD after it could not reach TFD by phone, apparently because of storm-related problems. TFD received the delayed alarm reported an LPG line break and fire at 7:49 p.m., nearly two hours after the fire was first observed.
The first-in engine, chief’s car and tanker with 12 fire fighters arrived at the Menard complex five minutes later. They were met by the security guard at the east end of the block-long distribution center.* The guard took the fire fighters to a cul-de-sac at the west end. The guard said the ruptured gas line was on the north side, but he did not know where. He also had no keys to enter the locked buildings, so a perimeter search was begun by first-responding fire officers.
A few minutes later, TFD First Assistant Chief Charles Stolp, who had climbed over the wire fence and walked along the north side of the distribution center, discovered the broken gas line with fire impinging on Building 1 (see diagram) about 25 feet from the east end of the structure.
Fire apparatus were instructed to return to the east end. Vehicle access to the north side was impossible because of a ditch and soft field.
After another time-consuming investigation, it was discovered that Engine 31 could drive through a 30-footwide path between Buildings 6 and 7 to get to the east end of Building 2. To do this, however, it was necessary to force open two overhead garage doors of an enclosed passageway connecting Buildings 6 and 7. Meanwhile, a second engine set up and charged a 21/2inch relay line through Building 8 to Engine 31—even though no smoke was visible and the locked door to Building 1 was cool.
These conditions were deceiving because Buildings 1 and 2 were highly charged with clear gas coming from the urethane foam insulation that was being melted by heat and flames from the fire at the gas line break. The gas also filtered into the other buildings.
Please turn page
To enter locked Building 1, fire fighters tossed a brick through the door’s window and pushed their hose line inside. The fresh air caused the gas to ignite and flash over through much of the distribution center. Suddenly, Buildings 1 and 2 were filled with heavy black smoke and intense fire that drove the fire fighters back. Flames raced through the other buildings. Eleven of 13 automatic fire doors failed to shut, exposing the interior of the entire distribution center. However, Stolp was able to manually close a fire door at the passageway connecting Buildings 5, 6 and 7.
The fire caused immediate explosions in heavy electrical equipment in Building 1, where electric fork lift trucks were being recharged. Engine 31 quickly repositioned at the southwest corner of Building 6 and began attacking the fire at that location. The 2 ½-inch relay line stretched through Building 8 became an attack line on Building 5.
A mutual-aid call was made to the Chippewa Fire Protection District; the Altoona, Rock Falls and Elk Mound Fire Departments, while the Eau Claire City Fire Department provided backup protection for the TFD.
The enormous cloud of billowing black smoke attracted widespread public attention, and within minutes all roads leading to the fire were jammed with sightseers. Volunteer fire fighters responding in their own cars encountered long delays. One truck company had to drive against traffic in the wrong lane 4.5 miles to reach the scene.
Water supply
Since there were no fire hydrants, the huge fire was fought entirely with water from tankers—at a rate of more than 4000 gpm for nearly two hours at the height of the blaze, according to Deputy Chief Okie Allen of TFD Station 3. This was achieved through the use of 20 tankers loading at a fill point a mile from the incident and dumping into 2100-gallon portable holding tanks serving six pumpers at the fire scene.
All 15 fire department tankers were equipped with 10-inch quick-dump apparatus that enabled them to empty an 1800-gallon load to a holding tank in 75 seconds. Tanker support was provided by two gasoline transport trucks with 7500 and 9500-gallon tanks; and one 3000-gallon bulk milk truck. However, the private tankers were comparatively slow unloading. They were directed to dump tanks out of the way of the faster fire tankers.
The fill point was a large man-made pond at the north end of the bigger Menard operation that was fed from an underground water source by a 3000gpm permanent pump. Three portable fire department pumps (750, 1000 and 3000-gpm capacities) and an engine/ pumper (750 gpm) were placed around the pond so that four water tankers could be filled at once.
Average round trip time for an 1800-gallon fire department tanker (fill, dump and return to the fill point) was timed at about eight minutes. The 20 tankers hauled a total of 723,500 gallons of water that were pumped on the fire, Allen said.
Engine 31 attempted to stop the rapidly spreading fire at a fire wall between Buildings 3 and 4, but the area was fully involved before the hose line could be charged. A new defense line was then established at the southeast corner of Building 6 to protect Building 7, a new, 2450-square-foot shipping and receiving structure filled with merchandise.
Fire stopped
A 30-foot-wide path separated this building from the rest of the distribution center, except for the previously mentioned passageway that was used for fork lift trucks. Fire fighters felt the intense heat, diligently working to save the existing wall of Building 6 that was a barrier between them and the fire. Many times the wall turned cherry red, even white, and the metal began to melt. Fortunately, the fire door Stolp had closed earlier was a part of that wall. The new defense line held and Building 7 was not damaged, nor was an adjacent office and garage area (Building 8).
Various burning hazardous substances presented special problems during the fire. AFFF was used to put out cartons of motor oil, grease, paint and other petroleum-based products. Large pallet loads of burning plastic garbage bags gave off acrid fumes and were difficult to extinguish. A huge pile of burning galvanized nails filled the air with zinc particles and was nearly impossible to stop, Allen explained. Aerosol cans were flying in all directions like rockets, adding to the hazards.
Continued on page 54
Distribution Center
Continued from page 32
“All of us felt the jubilation of a successful stop, saving the adjoining shipping and receiving structure (Building 7),” Allen recalled. “At the same time there was a sobering realization of the seriousness of what we were up against.”
The fire was under control about 2:30 a.m., but the last apparatus did not leave the scene until 7:20 p.m. — nearly 24 hours after the first alarm. Fire Fighter Steven Alf, 44, who was at the fire for 21 hours, suffered a severe heart attack the following day. With him at the time he went into full arrest was his son Joseph, a member of the Township Area Rescue Service, the TFD’s First Responder group.
“Steve is still with us today because of his son’s EMT training,” Allen delcared. ” This incident hit home to a lot of us, and it has given encouragement to the department’s recently formed rescue organization.
