By Jeff Watson, Indianapolis Regional Sales Manager
Mega-warehouses, often exceeding 1 million square feet in floor space, represent a unique challenge for first responders and those installing fire and life safety systems.
These challenges came into stark relief on March 15, 2022 in Plainfield, In., when a 1.2 million square-foot Wal-Mart warehouse burned to the ground, erasing $500 million in value and nearly taking the lives of three firefighters in the process.
I recently attended the National Fire Sprinkler Association’s Frontline Leadership Seminar, reviewing the incident and discussing what changes need to be made to fire codes and firefighting techniques to prevent a blaze like this.
The fire started in the storage racks of the warehouse, which crisscrossed the facility, and nearly reached the ceiling. Firefighters with the Plainfield Fire Territory were on scene in less than five minutes, and not long after believed they had contained the blaze.
The command was given to shut off the facility’s complex sprinkler system and begin ventilating the building. Roughly 10 minutes later, firefighters on the roof reported smoke and flames erupting from the building’s center.
The fire developed quickly and blanketed the building’s interior with thick, black smoke. Three firefighters who remained in between the racking where the fire had started were nearly trapped.
According to the report from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation they were only able to escape by stumbling upon a hose line that they had run from an exit door.
Over the next few days, the sprawling warehouse would burn completely to the ground.
The circumstances surrounding this event demonstrate how difficult it can be to plan for fires in these ultra-large facilities. Presenters at the NFSA’s seminar pointed to several key factors that need to be addressed to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Radio Communication
The building’s steel roof structure and steel racking caused significant interference with the firefighters’ radios and many of the recordings from the incident are partially, or completely unintelligible.
These lapses in communication placed first responders in danger as they could not communicate with command from inside the building. The Plainfield Fire Territory now employs a mobile repeater to amplify their trunked 800 MHz radio on calls in large buildings like this one.
The report recommends testing be conducted on buildings to determine where potential radio interference may take place and notes the state of Indiana has since adopted requirements for new large buildings to install amplified antenna systems or network expansion equipment.
These requirements have not been extended to existing buildings.
Fire Alarms
Issues also arose when the firefighters on scene were unfamiliar with the building’s fire alarm system and were unable to determine which alarms and sprinklers were operating correctly and which ones were not.
It also prevented them from quickly discovering the location of the blaze and slowed the firefighting response in general.
In another unfortunate turn, the facility manager for the fire alarm system was not present on the day of the incident and was unable to instruct firefighters on the correct response.
The Plainfield Fire Territory has 96 warehouses, each with similar constraints to the Wal-Mart facility. Following the seminar, I met with the presenters to discuss how integrators like Tech can help support our first responders.
The NFFF also noted in their report that steps should be taken to assess radio coverage and changes needed to be made in protocols for installing and using sprinklers and fire pumps in large warehouses.
These takeaways can be applied to other large warehouses and should be considered when during the construction process for any fire and life safety system.
For more information or to schedule a consultation on DAS/ERCES applications or other fire and life safety systems, contact us.
