Not Enough Water, So Fire Guts 1.2-Million-Square-Foot Warehouse
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Photo by Rob Sherman, Jr.
A fire in a fully sprinklered K mart warehouse with 1.2 million square feet under one roof in Bucks County, Pa:, swept through the entire structure last June 21, causing a loss of $113 million.
Flame and smoke spread so rapidly that a third alarm was requested within seven minutes of the first. But water soon became the greatest problem.
Two conditions combined with disastrous results: First, there were no fire department connections to the sprinkler system, according to Deputy Chief A. Marvin Roberts. Then, nine minutes after the first alarm, someone in the plant cut off the electrical supply at the transformer, also shutting off the pumps supplying water to the sprinklers.
After the fire-the largest ever in Pennsylvania-K mart Vice President of Distribution and Warehousing Joe E. Thomas announced plans to rebuild the warehouse at the same location.
The building’s construction
The fire building measured 1000 X 1200 feet and covered approximately 27 acres. It was lightweight, modern construction with sheet metal walls on masonry foundation. The roof was metal deck on lightweight steel truss beams and was covered with felt, slag and chips.
The interior was divided into four equal quadrants or segments separated by two-hour-fire-rated walls, although the walls were pierced in many places for conveyor belts, openings for fork lift trucks and walkways.
There were no self-closing fire doors, but the openings were protected by deluge sprinkler systems. It was not expected, however, that a quick collapse of the roof would render the entire sprinkler system useless.
A K mart spokesman estimated the value of the merchandise in the building at the time of the fire at $70 million. “The building,” she said, “was valued at $38 million, and the equipment at the facility was valued at $5 million-for a total of $113 million.”
It was one of 10 such facilities in the United States, supplying 375 stores in 14 states. K mart had filed an application with the township before the fire to construct an addition to the warehouse consisting of 900,000 square feet.
Photo by Joe Dixon
Chief issues warning
A hearing was held on the proposal on May 25. Falls Township Chief William J. Mulholland issued a warning at the hearing that if a serious fire occurred at the present warehouse-even without the addition-the building would be destroyed because water supplies were insufficient to cope with a major fire. “If my department and other responding units cannot confine the fire to one quadrant,” he said, “the entire building will be destroyed.
Mulholland was not present on the day of the fire. He was attending the convention of the New York State Fire Chiefs Association. Deputy Chief Roberts was the officer in charge.
The fire started in one corner of a quadrant, approximately 164 feet in from exposure 2 wall and 168 feet west of the wall dividing quadrants A and B. Apparently some aerosol cans fell from an upper shelf. The possibility exists that the flammable aerosol liquid was ignited by a spark from an electrical fork lift truck in the immediate area. Butane lighter fluid was stored across the aisle.
The fork lift operator ran for an extinguisher. But by the time he returned, he was unable to use it because of the quantity of fire and smoke.
Hose lines abandoned
The fire alarm was sounded promptly and the plant emergency organization responded quickly. Members stretched in with 1 1/2-inch hose lines off the standpipe system to fight the fire, which was then feeding on aerosol cans, butane lighter fluid, propane tanks, paint and small arms ammunition. They were driven out quickly, dropping their charged hose lines as they ran.
Fortunately, the fire occurred at lunchtime when most of the 350 employees were out of the fire area. Thus, there was minimum life hazard present, and all escaped without injury.
The sprinklers operated immediately, but stock was piled on racked metal shelves to a height of 18 feet and water could not reach the flaming cases on the lower racks.
The plant protection officer on duty in the guard control room at the main gate received the water flow alarm and transmitted it promptly to Bucks County Fire Alarm in Doylestown. The alarm was received there at 12:38 p.m.
Box 30-33 was dispatched calling for two pumpers, a ladder and a tactical unit from Station 30 of the Falls Township Fire Department. A ladder truck from the Fairless Hills Fire Company under the command of Chief George Hoffman, and an engine from Levittown No. 1 with Chief Jack Snyder in charge responded. All responding units were part of the Falls Township Fire Department.
As units were responding, Battalion Chief James Lanzi asked for a report. He was told that “Fire alarm had received two phone calls reporting a fire in the plant, and a report from Chief 32 (Snyder) of heavy smoke in the area.” Lanzi ordered the second alarm transmitted based on that report.
The second alarm, transmitted at 12:41, dispatched four additional pumpers and a rescue squad.
Propane bottles exploding
Snyder then reported to the dispatcher on the size of the building, heavy smoke conditions and propane bottles exploding. He ordered the transmission of the third alarm. The time was 12:45. Engines from Capitol View and Union of Morrisville, Tullytown, and Levittown No. 2, and a ladder, rescue company and ambulance from Levittown Fairless Hills responded. Two engines were dispatched with large-diameter hose.
On arrival on the fireground, a Falls Township engine was directed by Roberts to have two men wear SCBA and take a high-rise pack of 1 1/2-inch line into the building through the track dock approximately 150 feet to an opening in the fire wall, make a left-hand turn and advance 60 feet into quadrant B. They met heavy smoke banking down and light to medium heat-but no visible fire. With that, they were ordered out of the building.
A deluge gun with a 3-inch supply line was advanced, pulling a 1 1/2-inch line in as a back-up. At the same time, a truck company raised its ladder and placed a ladder pipe into service, trying to hold the fire running on the exterior of the roof toward quadrant A.
Battalion Chief Richard Berman and a six-man crew of the Falls Township engine entered and found the fire already advancing into quadrant A. All hands were ordered out of the building. A hose line and deluge gun had to be left behind.
Water supply in the area consisted of a 300,000-gallon water tank at ground level fed by a 2000-gpm diesel pump. An electric pump off the municipal water system could deliver 1500 gpm.
A 12-inch main, the largest in the township, ran into the area and fed a 16-inch main running throughout the warehouse loop.
No sprinkler connections
Unfortunately, the fire department could not supplement the water and pressure on the sprinkler system if no sprinkler connections were available. Soon the number of heads opening and the number of pumpers operating elsewhere on the water system caused less and less water to reach the fire effectively from the sprinklers.
Photo by Joe Dixon
Companies responding on the third alarm were directed to lead off from a six-outlet manifold near the pump house. This manifold was fed by an electric pump off the domestic water system. It was found that the manifold was shut down at the valve because of leakage. The valve was reopened and the manifold was placed in service. Engine 301 from Falls Township led off from the manifold to the fire wall between quadrant A and B and tried to set up between B and C. But the crew was forced to abandon its position.
Power off
Then at 12:47 someone shut off the electrical supply at the transformer and cut off the pumps.
In planning, it was estimated that the required fire flow would be 4000 gpm (240,000 gallons per hour) for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. To obtain a flow of 5000 gpm would have necessitated the response of 45 additional pumpers and taken perhaps two hours to set up a relay from a lake.
Roberts called for the fourth alarm at 1:01, bringing three engines from Edgely, Hulmeville and Penndel; a rescue truck and an ambulance. The call for a fifth alarm came at 1:22. Four more engines from Yardley, Feasterville, Hulmeville, and Newtown; three ladder companies from Edgely, Bucks County and Penndel; two rescue companies and an ambulance responded.
Change to defense tactics
Roberts took a realistic look at the situation after the fifth alarm. The building was fully involved. The metal walls were crumbling. The roof had caved in. He had surrounded the fire as best he could with deluge guns on each side, but he could not hope to cover all the sides, due to long distances and poor water supply.
If he continued to sound additional alarms, all kinds of apparatus was available to him, not only from Bucks County but also under mutual-aid plans from Mercer and Burlington Counties in New Jersey.
But the fire had moved approximately 1200 feet in just 18 minutes. He had lost water pressure. The sprinkler system had collapsed. A fire storm was developing.
About one hour and 25 minutes into the fire, Roberts reluctantly issued an order over the county radio system for an orderly retreat. All units were ordered to shut down and pull back. Winds developing in the fire area were estimated to be as high as 80 mph. Winds were knocking fire fighters from their feet at the guard house, 500 feet from the fire scene. Thick black smoke was blanketing the Capitol in Trenton, N.J., 5 miles north of the fire. Pressure dropped rapidly when the 12-inch main within the building broke. Standpipe and sprinkler lines collapsed within the building, robbing water from the yard hydrant system.
Office threatened, saved
The fire was traveling toward the front of the building. In the path of the flames was the office building with its valuable computer, records and other equipment. It was separated from the fire by an unpierced fire wall. Roberts relocated apparatus to this side of the building, setting up three ladder pipes and two deck guns. He never got to use them. As the fire storm developed, they had to shut down and pull back. The fire blew over the office building, but it did not ignite. Roberts credits the wall with saving it.
Spot fires started on some nearby plant roofs but were quickly controlled. Six boxcars on an enclosed railroad siding within the building were destroyed. A large pile of wooden pallets caught fire near the front loading dock. Fire fighters moved in and knocked this fire down, before it spread to a larger pile of pallets. Many trucks and trailers waiting to unload were safely moved out of the area.
The fire was declared under control by Roberts at 2:11, but it was far from being extinguished. There was no device known to the fire service that could have delivered water to the center of the fire area, short of an air drop.
Concern over fumes
As nightfall approached, Roberts became concerned with the problem of fumes from home and garden pesticides stored in the warehouse. At the height of the fire, he felt any fumes were being burned off.
At 12:29 a.m. by request of Deputy Chief 30, the Bucks County haz-mat team was special-called. Air testers from the federal Environmental Protection Agency were also called to the scene to monitor the fumes. Representatives from the New Jersey Department of Health became involved because winds carried the fumes across the Delaware River into New Jersey. All tests of air showed no danger, but hourly tests were continued throughout the night.
The next day, a Tuesday, Mulholland had returned and requested K mart officials to cut “roads” through the fire area with bulldozers for the first step in extinguishing the fire and demolishing the building. In this manner, fire fighters on the detail could stretch lines via the “roads” to extinguish spot fires. In addition to Bucks County fire departments that volunteered their services, companies from Mercer County and Burlington Counties in New Jersey participated in this detail.
New building plans
When plans for the new warehouse were announced, Mulholland asked for a revision of the plans for isolation of flammable materials in just one section of the building, better fire walls and an improvement of the water system.
A few days later, a representative of K mart told officials of Falls Township that the company was considering a number of changes in its plans for the new warehouse.
W. C. Brown, project manager, told the township supervisors that the plans would be revised to provide two separate buildings of 1 million square feet each. Brown stated the buildings would have a 50-foot space between them. He also said there would be more interior divisions.
At the same time, Falls Township announced that work is under way on a pumping station to obtain an additional 500,000 gallons of water daily from a nearby water authority.
The fireground detail was lifted by Mulholland on Monday evening, June 28, one week from the start of the fire. Hose lines were left connected to the manifold and stretched to the center of fire areas from exposures 1,2 and 3, for possible use by the demolition crew.
Warnings from 1974
The K mart warehouse had been constructed in 1974, the same year of the “Hanover Report,” issued after a special meeting of the largest insurers of industrial property in the world in Hanover, N.H. The report warned about the ever-larger one-story plants and warehouses of lighter construction under one roof-subject to one fire.
The new construction materials were mostly noncombustible, so management concern for the possible disastrous fire was growing less. But hazards remained. Rack storage, plastic building materials and other problems “introduced fire challenges too severe for existing protection,” the report said. “However, economics dictated the building of the superplants and superbuildings for centralized warehouse/ distribution facilities … which increase the jeopardy factor simply by making more available to burn when the fire does break out.”
The chairman warned that “United States corporate management must… recognize the magnitude of the industrial and commercial fire loss problem and the pressing need to assign priority for its solution.”
