Welding / Hotwork Accidents 10

Hotwork Accidents #10

This page was last updated on 05/06/2010

Spark from welding torch blamed in school fire
(Gadsden-AP) — The state Fire Marshal has determined a welding spark is blamed for causing a fire that destroyed most of Highland Elementary School last week. Arson investigators said the blaze ignited in a room where workers had been cutting away old metal-frame windows. Construction crews apparently did not realize there was wood behind the metal frames. The fire, which was discovered shortly after 8 pm Thursday night, caused extensive damage to most of the school — the school’s gymnasium and two recently built classrooms were spared. Etowah County Superintendent Tommy Mosley said yesterday the school will be rebuilt. He said portable classrooms will be used until construction on the new school is completed in 12 to 18 months. 

Cargill Fire Gives turkeys a break 
Tue, May 20, 2003 The Morning News/NWAonline.net 
SPRINGDALE — A small fire Monday at the Cargill processing plant on Randall Wobbe Lane and Jefferson Avenue shut down the processing line for about 30 minutes. Workers were welding a metal fixture on a wall at the plant and overheated the insulation within the wall, according to Springdale Fire Department Capt. Eddie Davis. A small amount of the insulation caught fire, but, for the most part, it generated smoke and little flame. Davis said the poultry production line was stopped and workers evacuated as a safety precaution. Springdale and Lowell firefighters had the fire out and the area inspected within 30 minutes of receiving the initial call.

Fire Damages Tyson Plant 
It took crews over an hour to control a blaze at the Tyson foods plant in Norfolk. Two plant employees were injured in the fire. The call came in at 10:41 p.m. Sunday after smoke filled the southwest quarter of the beef processing plant. When firefighters arrived, they encountered heavy smoke and were able to locate the actual fire. Using the department’s snorkel truck, firefighters attacked the blaze from the roof and on the ground. Two people were transported to a Norfolk hospital with smoke inhalation. According to Norfolk fire chief Shane Weidner, the fire remains under investigation, but preliminary reports point toward welding work that was done earlier Sunday night. The Tyson foods plant employs over 1000 people in Norfolk. 

Seven killed, seven injured in blast in Alang yard 
Press Trust of India Ahmedabad, May 19 
Seven labourers were killed and at least an equal number injured in a blast inside an oil tanker at Alang ship breaking yard on Monday, district police sources here said. The blast could have been caused due to gas leak as gas welders were being used near the engine of the oil tanker, the sources said. The injured have been rushed to Bhavnagar Civil Hospital they said. Deputy Superintendent of Police HB Barot said that thick smoke emerging from inside the ship was preventing officials from ascertaining the exact number of injured. Barot said there was no major fire after the blast, which occurred in the oil tanker in yard number five. 

Welders Caused County Building Fire 
A fire that destroyed the headquarters of Charles County’s Department of Community Services this week was caused by welders who were renovating the 52-year-old building’s heating and air conditioning system, federal and Maryland investigators said. The fire caused more than $2.5 million in damage and destroyed the only copies of waiting lists for the Section 8 low-income housing program, county spokeswoman Nina W. Voehl said yesterday. Officials have stopped taking housing applications until a new list can be made, Voehl said. The fire began in an attic-type space above the building’s boiler room, where a contractor was welding, said W. Faron Taylor, a spokesman for the state fire marshal. Fire marshals and investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could not determine whether the fire was started by sparks from the welding or from a surge of electricity that welding sends through material, Taylor said. No charges will be filed in connection with the fire, Taylor said. 

UPDATE Bosses charged over chimney deaths
TWO company bosses have been charged with manslaughter after a pair of steeplejacks were killed by a fireball which engulfed them while demolishing a chimney in Greater Manchester. Paul Wakefield, 40, and Craig Whelan, 23, were working inside the 200ft tower in Westhoughton, near Bolton, when there was an explosion. Their deaths at the Carnaud Metalbox tin can plant triggered an investigation by Greater Manchester Police and the Health and Safety Executive. Now two of the company’s managers have been charged with manslaughter and police say a third manager, believed to be from Swansea, is to be summoned. Ian Billington, 39, of Conisber Close, Egerton, and Colin Stevens, 57, of Barford Grove, Lostock, each face two counts of manslaughter. They will appear before Bolton magistrates on Tuesday. Father-of-two Paul Wakefield was due home to celebrate his wife Lyn’s 39th birthday and their 17th wedding anniversary when he died. He phoned her at their Nottingham home to say he loved her minutes before he started work on a cradle inside the chimney. But two hours later he and his workmate were engulfed by a huge fireball. They both died instantly in the inferno, which spewed 30ft-high flames into the air for 40 minutes. Mr Wakefield’s widow said after the tragedy: “Paul and I loved each other. That’s the last thing we said to each other and I’m thankful for that. He was a wonderful, devoted family man.” Their daughters Kelly, 16, and Nicola, 12, are still struggling to come to terms with their father’s death. Craig Whelan’s fiancee Jill Wallace, 24, is also struggling to come to terms with the tragedy. The couple, also from Nottingham, had been looking forward to their wedding, which was planned for February this year. They had been living together since they were 17 and had a three-year-old daughter, Katie, who was the “apple of her daddy’s eye”. Miss Wallace said: “Daddy’s girl just didn’t describe it. All she had to do was flutter her eyelashes and he’d do anything for her.” The force of the explosion, which happened on May 23 last year, dislodged a 180ft ladder. The investigation had to be delayed while the site was made safe. The tragedy has shocked fellow workers at Churchill Steeplejacks, in Ruddington, Nottingham. A company statement after the incident said: “The devastating tragic event has left us all shocked and numb. “Our deepest heart-felt condolences and thoughts are with their families.” Mr Wakefield had worked for the family-run firm for eight years. Mr Whelan had been employed there for over two years. Steve Thomas, a spokesman for Carnaud Metalbox’s parent company Crown, Cork and Seal Ltd, said: “We can confirm that two employees are facing charges following the industrial accident at our Westhoughton plant. “The conclusion of our internal investigation of this dreadful accident is that these employees acted at all times conscientiously and with consideration for the safety of others. “They continue to receive our full support as we work with the police and the Health and Safety Executive to establish the cause of the incident.”

UPDATE Man sues city over explosion 
By Kevin Moran North Adams Transcript Friday, May 16, 2003 – 
NORTH ADAMS — A $500,000 lawsuit was lodged against the City of North Adams on Monday, claiming city-owned gas-burning heaters were not properly drained of fuel that led to a May 2001 explosion in which a former A. Shapiro & Sons Inc. scrap metal worker was severely burned. The lawsuit, filed in Berkshire Superior Court in Pittsfield on behalf of the victim Carl Scutt of North Adams, also seeks an unspecified amount of damages from the gas burner manufacturer, the Hauck Manufacturing Company of Lebanon, Pa., according to attorney Patrick Gable of Gable and Weingold, a personal injury and workers compensation law firm with offices in North Adams and Pittsfield. The lawsuit alleges city workers didn’t completely drain two fuel tanks brought to the Ashland Street scrap metal yard for disposal and failed to inform Shapiro’s the tanks contained flammable material before handing them over, Gable said Thursday. On May 21, 2001, Scutt was operating a scrap metal cutter at the Ashland Street business, the ground became heated, and one of the tanks located nearby exploded, Gable said. “It was a spontaneous combustion that created, literally, a fireball,” Gable said. Scutt sustained severe burns, spent more than a month at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and has undergone five operations to repair heavy scarring with more operations expected, the attorney said. As a result, Scutt accrued more than $410,000 in medical bills and has lost $28,000 in wages. Gable said the tanks were not full of fuel, but nor were they completely drained. The attorney is not certain what kind of fuel the heater tanks contained. “That’s the very purpose why these tanks should be drained ahead of time,” Gable said. “They (the city) knew this would be placed in an area where they knew or should have known there was [scrap metal] cutting going on.” The law firm is seeking $500,000 from the City of North Adams under a cap imposed by a “loss of consortium” provision of state law. This prevents personal injury lawsuits from seeking damages from municipalities greater than $100,000 for an individual victim and his or her immediate family members. Since Scutt has a wife and three children, the law firm is applying the $100,000 maximum taking into account each family member. Scutt has been home for a year, but has to make routine trips to Massachusetts General Hospital to the scarring from the burns. Scarring is the body’s way of healing itself, but in some cases too much of it can have an adverse affect. “If scarring grows too much on his fingers or in his elbow sockets, he then loses mobility to use those limbs,” Gable said. The lawsuit will proceed next to the discovery stage; it takes about two years for cases like these to reach trial. According to its Web site, the century-old Hauck Manufacturing Company “designs, builds, and markets” industrial heat burners and blowers. Gable said the products are used to heat construction areas and are used by plumbers to heat pipes. Mayor John Barrett III and Hauck Manufacturing Company did not return messages seeking comment Thursday. 

Fire extinguished at construction project
FITCHBURG — Firefighters put out flames caused by a construction project Tuesday afternoon inside the UEL Construction building at 270 Airport Road. Deputy Chief Andrew Gallant said welders working on a project to enlarge the building accidentally set fire to insulation inside the building. Firefighters isolated and removed the insulation and put out the fire in about a half hour. Gallant said the fire caused a few thousand dollars worth of damage to the interior of the building. No one was hurt. 

Fire destroys Anderson carpet store
May 14, 2003 – 4:51 pm By Ron Barnett STAFF WRITER
Fire destroyed a 50-year-old building and $500,000 worth of carpet and hardwood flooring in Anderson on Wednesday, but no one was seriously hurt, officials and the owner of the business said. he blaze, at the Carpet Fashions/Carpet One store at 1620 North Main St., apparently was sparked by roofers using torches, according to Anderson Fire Department spokeswoman Kim Strickland. Businesses within 2 1/2 to three blocks around the building were evacuated because of possibly noxious fumes, she said. Firefighters tried to douse the flames from above with a ladder truck but couldn’t make much headway, Strickland said. “It became too dangerous for firefighters to actually walk on the roof, so we did have to evacuate everyone from the roof and the inside of the building and do an exterior attack,” she said. David Rumph, who owned the carpet business but not the building, said he managed to get computer records out before the building was fully engulfed, but nothing else was saved. There were no customers in the store at the time the fire started, around 1:15 p.m., he said. The business employs eight, most of whom were inside at the time. “Everybody got out safely, but the store started filling up with smoke pretty quickly,” he said. The business was in a former Winn-Dixie building that dated to the 1950s, he said. The value of the building wasn’t immediately known. Rumph was at lunch when he got word that there was a problem on the roof. “They were just about to finish up and were in the back of the building,” he said. “They had put the torch in and were heating up the last bit of the roof and evidently burned through and caught the roof up underneath on fire. “Once it hit, it just went up. That stuff was so dry and old, it was a lost cause.” An official of the roofing company could not be reached. Two or three firefighters were taken to a rehab unit for treatment of smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion, Strickland said, but no one was sent to the hospital. Fire officials were concerned about the possibly noxious smoke from the smoldering carpet and evacuated businesses in the area, including a child care center about 200 feet behind the burning building, a restaurant and a strip mall, she said. There were also calls from nearby residences about the smoke, she said. Firefighters were expected to remain on the scene dousing hot spots through the night, but there was no apparent danger of the fire spreading, Strickland said. 

Fire empties mill’s pulping plant 
05/15/03 HOLLEY GILBERT 
CAMAS — A fire forced evacuation of the Georgia-Pacific paper mill’s pulping facility Wednesday and sent four employees to the hospital with smoke inhalation. A mill official told Camas Fire Captain Greg Payne late Wednesday that the fire, reported about 3:30 p.m., apparently started after welding had been done on the building’s duct work, Payne said. The fire was confined to the duct work, possibly only on the fourth flour, said Carolyn McGreevy, the mill’s spokeswoman. The rest of the mill remained in operation. The fire was out by 6:30 p.m. The fire was discovered when smoke entered the K5 bleach plant control room, McGreevy said. The smoke sent employees to a separate bleach plant control room within the five-story building at Sixth Avenue and Northwest Division Street. Two were taken by ambulance to Southwest Washington Medical Center. A third went on his or her own, and a fourth was driven to the hospital in a private vehicle, she said. The four included three men and one woman. All four were treated and released by Wednesday evening, McGreevy said. Because of federal privacy laws, no other medical information was available about them. During the day, about 22 people work in the K4 and K5 area, McGreevy said. The pulping facility is where wood chips are cooked and then whitened before being made into pulp to make paper, she said. About 30 firefighters from the Camas, Vancouver and Washougal fire departments and the mill’s fire brigade responded to the fire. “This will be fully investigated” not only by the Camas Fire Department and the mill’s brigade, but by company officials, McGreevy said. “There will be agencies to inform,” she said. “There will be a very sophisticated drill down in to the cause and corrective action.”

Factory blaze was potential death-trap May 15 2003
Runcorn Weekly News
FIREFIGHTERS battled a potentially lethal blaze when a gas cylinder ignited at a steel factory in Runcorn. Two crews rushed to D&D Fabrications LTD in Percival Lane at around 6.45am on Friday, when a welding rod over-heated and burnt through an acetylene gas cylinder. A team of 11 D&D staff arrived at work to discover that fire had broken out in the company workshop, releasing harmful gas emissions into the air. The workshop – which has been active in manufacturing steel used in the construction of the Runcorn and Widnes bridge – was hit by 5% fire damage and 95% smoke damage. Firefighters were forced to isolate the toxic cylinder to prevent further gas leaking out of the tubing. Sub officer Ken Sharratt said: ‘The nacetylene gas is dangerous when involved in fire, and if left much longer unattended, the fire could have been a lot worse.’ He added: ‘My advise in relation to incidents like this is to ensure that such cylinders are fully switched off at the end of a working day.’ Jackie Lewis, the director of D&D Fabrications said: ‘There was no-one in the building at the time, which was obviously a relief. ‘It was a surprise to come in in the morning to find the nacetylene bottle had caught fire, but it was mainly soot damage. ‘We’ve yet to find out how the fire happened and in view of that we’ll obviously be looking into increasing our fire and safety regulations.’ 

Thomson man killed when pontoon explodes 
By Thomas Geyer 
SAVANNA, Ill. —A Thomson man was killed Monday after a pontoon that he was welding exploded, Carroll County officials said. Details of the accident remained sketchy Tuesday, but Carroll County deputy coroner John Schultz said the accident occurred in the early afternoon at the marina in Savanna. Richard L. “Dick” Falls, 75, and another man had been working on a pontoon boat at the marina, Schultz said. They had been welding one of the pontoons when it exploded. “I was told you could hear that explosion throughout the town,” he said.Falls was pronounced dead at the scene, Schultz said. The other man was not injured. The accident remains under investigation. An official statement from authorities on why the pontoon exploded could be issued sometime today or Thursday, he said. Falls worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as an assistant lock master at Lock and Dam 13 in Fulton. He was a member of National Association of Retired Federal Employees, Thomson Lions Club, Donald Ashpole American Legion, Savanna Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2223 and York Community Congregational Church, Thomson. He also enjoyed model trains, and was in the process of building a model plane. A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Law-Jones Funeral Home, Savanna, with visitation from 6-8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. 

UPDATE MOSCOW FIRE KILLS TEN 
A fire at a Moscow building site has killed ten people and hospitalised one worker. Initial investigation suggests it was sparked by welding equipment being used in the construction of a three?story parking facility. It’s being reported that migrant workers from former Soviet Republics who work there were forbidden by the private security to talk to the media or to ask for assistance when the fire started.
Source: WorldWatch

Construction worker killed in accident 
05/13/2003 
A construction worker was killed on Monday in an industrial accident in Kingston. Kingston police said Neil Metcalf, 62, of Stillwater, died when a 12-foot steel I-beam fell on him. The accident occurred at the site of the former Mack Truck Co. building, 135 S. Wyoming Ave., at 1:06 p.m. The building is being renovated for new occupancy. Police said Metcalf died after the I-beam he was welding shifted and fell, striking him in the face and chest. The I-beam was being placed over a doorway approximately 12 feet high and was being held by a forklift. Police said one side of the I-beam was welded, and the weld broke lose, causing the beam to fall on Metcalf, who was on a ladder. Metcalf was transported by Kingston Emergency Medical Services personnel to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, where he later died from the injuries. Coroner Dr. George Hudock performed an autopsy at 6:15 p.m. and ruled that Metcalf died from multiple traumatic injuries. Police are not filing any charges and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been called to investigate. 

Safety a concern after fire
By W. MATT MEYER May 13 2003
As a downtown trash bin fire spewed billowing black smoke in the air, John Allen looked up from his work a few blocks away. Allen was overseeing repair work at one of his downtown buildings hurt in last week’s tornado. When he first saw the smoke, he didn’t think much about it. Then he realized where it was. The trash bin was outside Allen’s Liberty Square Apartments, at the corner of Lafayette and Liberty streets. The building, along with several other of Allen’s properties, had sustained roof and water damage during the tornado. The repair job at Liberty had just been finished Monday afternoon. But about 4 p.m., a trash container filled with old asphalt roofing ignited and the intense heat singed the outside of the building and damaged some windows and exterior trim work. Several dozen downtown workers gathered to watch as four fire trucks struggled to put out a stubborn tar fire. No one was injured. “Bring some hot dogs, we’ll have a wienie roast down here,” Allen said on a cell phone as he surveyed the activity. “I just don’t believe this.” Jackson Fire Chief Kenneth Lay said he was unsure what caused the blaze. He guessed that some of the roofing materials might have ignited through spontaneous combustion. Allen, a general contractor, thinks something was thrown into the dumpster and ignited the fire. “That’s the only thing that makes sense to me,” he said. The apartments are mostly occupied, but no one was home at the time. Allen said another tenant was supposed to move in this week. “Oh well,” he said. A doctor staying in the apartment that received the most exterior damage during Monday’s blaze had moved into Liberty Street because he had been burned out of his Gordon Street house last month, Allen said. “He’s not going to believe this, two fires in one month,” Allen said. This is also the second fire at Liberty Street in the last four months. A spark from a torch repairing the roof in February set a fire that damaged the roof and part of the third floor. Repair work from that accident had just ended the eek before the tornado struck, Allen said. “And the hits just keep on coming,” Allen said. “I’d have to get better now before I could die.” Lay said the incident should remind all who are cleaning up from the tornado and involved in rebuilding efforts to redouble their safety efforts. Though he was unsure of the cause of this fire, Lay said mixing certain chemicals – like carpet adhesives or roof tar – can cause fires to ignite easily. Lay also warned cleanup crews to not place debris where it might trip someone. “Some people might trip on it unless it is clearly marked,” Lay said. Also, debris should not cover up fire hydrants, he said. Wes Forsythe, co-owner of Nando Jones, was outside cleaning up on Lafayette and could see the commotion of the downtown fire Monday afternoon. He said he is trying to keep his debris away from the building to stay safe. “It’s a monumental cleanup job,” he said. “I’m just trying to get a handle as to what we can do.” 

Ten Moscow builders die in basement parking fire
MOSCOW, May 12 (Reuters) – Ten building workers died on Monday in a fire that tore through a partially-built elite housing complex in Moscow, the Russian capital’s fire service said. It was in a basement, where the underground parking will be. There were 10 dead,” a spokesman said. The Alye Parusa (Scarlet sails) complex of three yellow towers sits on the banks of the Moskva river in northwestern Moscow, and has been marketed as a high-quality housing development for Russia’s rich. Television footage showed smoke billowing from windows on the lower floors. TVS television said the fire was caused by exploding gas cylinders used in high-temperature welding. “According to preliminary information, we can say there was a violation of security regulations,” Vladimir Rodin, deputy head of the city fire service, told TVS. In a separate incident, three people were killed and one injured in a fire at an industrial estate in Russia’s second city of St Petersburg, Interfax news agency reported. 

UPDATE Massive Fire Destroys Chicago Business 
May 7, 2003 4:53 pm US/Central
Witnesses tell us they saw and heard several explosions. A spark in the auto shop appears to have ignited when one mechanic was removing a gas tank, and another mechanic was using a torch nearby. It happened on the near west side, in the 1100 block of West Hubbard. It is obviously now time for the clean up. They are just getting started with that. This is the first time we have been able to see the devastation up close. Take a look inside the garage of the repair shop where this all happened. You can see that there were employees inside working. They all worked here a long time so they knew from the first spark that they had to get out fast before the fuel tanks inside the trucks started to explode. A pillar of smoke could be seen for miles across the entire city. “Flames were 30 feet up in the air until it took over the rest of the whole building. We watched the whole thing.” Inside the Acorn Garage, six workers who had been repairing trucks ran for safety. “Somebody yelled ‘Get out!'”Jim Pace was glad to get out alive. “Very grateful,” said Pace. Chopper 2 captured dramatic pictures as the roof collapsed. Intense flames quickly burned through the wooden trusses holding up the roof. That’s when firefighters knew they had a big battle. “They go in as far as they can, and as quick as they can,” explained Commissioner James Joyce of the Chicago Fire Department. “If they can’t knock the fire right away, it’s time to get out and take a defensive posture.”Workers say the Acorn Garage is owned by Bill Truppa, seen here talking to firefighters. A friend of his tells us what apparently sparked the fire. “They were removing the gas tank and it fell over,” says Rory Saldana. “It sparked the fire when it hit an electrical cord.”The railroad tracks along Hubbard closed briefly, but are now open. 125 firefighters and 30 trucks rushed to the scene including a foam truck from O’Hare Airport. Many witnesses heard a series of explosions. Those booms were apparently fuel tanks of the trucks sitting in the garage. “One after the other until they all did. The whole place was engulfed.” CBS 2 Chicago talked to one of the co-owners, the other brother. He’s still in shock. He said he wants to continue with the family business because its been here for fifty years. “A lot of good people, family, good customers that we deal with,” said co-owner Rich Truppa. “We’re going to carry that on. We are going to dig deep and redo it, rebuild.”We were also told that there were about 12 trucks in the garage for service at the time of the fire. Some of the customers for this business include Metra, CTA and the Cook County Jail, however, we don’t know exactly whose trucks were inside at the time of the fire. 

Fix-a-Flat trial gets under way in Baldwin; Lawyers clash over 1997 explosion that claimed life of Silverhill man 
05/07/03 By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Reporter
BAY MINETTE — Lawyers for the widow of a Silverhill man who died in an explosion six years ago opened their case Tuesday against the makers of a tire-repair product they contend was willfully mislabeled. Armed with a bevy of visual aides, plaintiffs’ lawyer Joseph “Buddy” Brown gave a nearly three-hour-long opening statement in Baldwin County Circuit Court. He told jurors that Snap Products and its chief executive officer ignored repeated warnings from competitors, independent testing, the testimony of previous accident victims and the firm’s own chemists that Fix-a-Flat was made with an explosive propellant. Pamela Daniel is suing Snap Products, CEO Sam McInnis and two other defendants on behalf of her late husband’s estate. The trial is expected to last three weeks and could become one of Baldwin County’s biggest product liability cases. Joe Ed Daniel was repairing a motor-grader at a former dirt race track south of Loxley on June 4, 1997, when an explo sion decapitated him. Daniel’s lawyers contend the cause was a tire that had been filled with Fix-a-Flat about two weeks earlier. Brown likened the tire to a bomb. “We expect to prove (that) by July of 1993, the countdown of a bomb had already been set,” he said. “That countdown was never stopped, despite numerous opportunities.” A lawyer for Snap Products and McInnis, however, suggested that Daniel did not follow instructions on Fix-a-Flat can. “There’s a lot of truth to what Mr. Brown told you,” defense attorney Earl W. Gunn said. “A lot of things are just wrong, and there are a lot of things that are taken out of context.” Brown showed jurors boards depicting a timeline beginning in 1987 and ending with Daniel’s death in 1997. He said Paul Norman, the CEO of Snap Products’ predecessor company, Nationwide Industries, changed the formula after he became aware in the late 1980s of the dangers associated with the propanbutane propellant used in Fix-a-Flat. Although the new propellant worked well, Brown said, the company was forced to abandon it at the end of 199 when Congress outlawed it as part of the Clean Air Act. That left McInnis, who had become head of the company, with a fateful choice. Brown showed jurors a handwritten memo from McInnis considering the options — discontinuing the product, switching to a safe propellant that would cost $1 a can more or using a propellant made from dimethyl ether that actually cost less. McInnis chose the third option because it was much cheaper, Brown said, but kept a label advertising Fix-a-Flat as non-explosive. “How deceptive. How illegal. How immoral,” he said. Penzoil since has purchased Fix-a-Flat, recalled the product and replaced it with a safer propellant. But Gunn said McInnis relied on the advice of others and did not become aware of dimethyl ether’s explosive characteristics for several years. “He always knew the third generation was flammable. What he didn’t know is that it was explosive,” he said. Gunn said that by the time of Daniel’s death, however, company officials had become aware of the problem and ordered arning stickers to be placed on about a million Fix-a-Flat cans. Brown called the sticker a “clever little trick” that he contended was purposefully placed on the side of the can and designed to blend in with the yellow background. Instructions warned against welding near a tire that had been repaired with Fix-a-Flat and stated that it was intended for use on a 15-inch tire — much smaller than the motor-grader Daniel was working on. “He had the can in his hand. He knew from his training and experience you don’t weld (near) a tire with Fix-a-Flat in it,” Gunn said. “Why he did what he did, I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t feel like he had the time to let out all the air in the tire.” One of the co-defendants, Safety Consultants Engineers, was removed from the case on Friday. Gunn said the company settled with the plaintiffs for $700,000. The trial will resume today.

Police Report & News Briefs
Compiled from Bee staff reports and news services Published Tuesday, May 6, 2003, 8:10 AM
FIRE – Welder ignites blaze
An apartment fire sparked by a welder caused $260,000 damage in a southeast Fresno apartment complex, according to Fresno Fire Department reports. The two-alarm blaze started about 12:22 p.m. Monday in insulation and spread through the Winery Apartments at 1275 S. Winery Ave., said Randy Schrantz, an investigator with the Fresno Fire Department. The maintenance man working on the pipes reported shortness of breath and was treated at the scene. A woman also reported shortness of breath and chest pain. She was hospitalized. 

TEANECK – The roof and walls of a West Lawn Drive home were moderately damaged by fire, said police Lt. Thomas Sikorsky. Sparks from welding tools being used by a plumber ignited the two-alarm blaze Saturday afternoon, Sikorsky said. The homeowners were inside when the fire started and immediately called the Fire Department. Several fire engines responded and the smoky blaze was extinguished within 15 minutes. – Catherine Holahan

Napa cop spots fire, averts disaster for businesses
Thursday, May 1, 2003 By MARSHA DORGAN Register Staff Writer
A Napa police officer happened to be in the right place at the right time to stop a fire, not a crime. Officer George Ulitin, who was responding to an earlier call of a possible disturbance at the shopping center at Redwood Road and Solano Avenue, most likely nipped a serious structure fire in the bud when he discovered flames poking out between the common back wall shared between Weight Watchers and Dazzling Donuts. “I was checking out the back alley behind the business when I saw flames coming out between the wall shared by the two businesses,” Ulitin said. “I called the fire department and told everyone in the businesses in that building to get out.” In addition to Weight Watchers, other businesses in the smoldering building included Round Table Pizza, Dazzling Donuts and Bicycle Works. All were evacuated, but Weight Watchers, which was closed at the time, was the only business damaged. The cause of fire has been traced to a construction company that was doing asphalt paving patch work behind the businesses, Napa Fire Battalion Chief Steve Stuart said. Workers were using a heating torch along the edge of the buildings, Stuart said. The fire, found in the rear exterior walls of Weight Watchers, was heading for the roof, Stuart said. Armed with axes and chain saws, firefighters munched away at the exterior walls of the business to prevent the fire from rising to the roof. Scristoval Gonzalez, a baker at Dazzling Donuts, said he was baking donuts when he smelled the smoke. “I smelled something burning, and then the police were banging at the door telling us to get out of the building,” he said. “There were three of us inside — no customers — and we left.” Round Table Pizza employee Kyle Owens said the police also alerted him and the other employees to evacuate the restaurant. “There weren’t any customers inside the restaurant, just about 10 employees,” Owens said. “We just left the restaurant and are waiting to find out when we can go back inside.” Using an ax, chain saw and circular saw, firefighters ate away at the exterior walls of the Weight Watchers business to make sure the fire didn’t find its way to the roof, Stuart said. The damage, estimated at $5,000, was confined to the exterior and interior walls of the business, Stuart said. 
“The was no loss of contents.”

Livingston torch fire guts truck, garage
Democrat and Chronicle 
(April 30, 2003) — OSSIAN — A garage was destroyed Tuesday by a fire that started with a man working on a truck with a torch. The fire at 9860 Tracy Road was reported at 2:36 p.m. The garage was filled with flames when crews arrived. The owner of the building, Donald Marks, 43, told Livingston County sheriff’s deputies that he had been working on the cab of his tractor trailer and using a torch to cut off parts of the undercarriage. The vehicle caught fire; Marks tried to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers and a garden hose but was unsuccessful. He was treated at the scene for burns to his hands. The building, tractor trailer and three other vehicles were a total loss. 

Fire Destroys Uncompleted Raspberry Falls House
Dan Telvock and Allen Browning 
Apr 28, 2003 — A $450,000 house in Leesburg was destroyed by a fire Friday night and burned undetected for a few hours before firefighters were called to the scene. The Loudoun County Department of Fire and Rescue stated that the single-family home at 41616 Swiftwater Drive was under construction and no one was living in it. The Fire Marshals Office deemed the fire was accidental; a welder who was working in the house Friday, April 25, with a cutting torch ignited nearby combustibles. The fire burned undetected for a few hours until it was discovered at around 5:30 p.m. Leesburg, Lucketts, Ashburn, Hamilton and Loudoun fire and rescue personnel responded. Leesburg Volunteer Fire Chief Tom Goss said the house was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived. No one was injured. Raspberry Falls subdivision neighbors believe the fire started in the back of the house. Several neighbors said they saw black smoke pouring from an upper story, rear window that quickly erupted into flames. The cloud of smoke could be seen as far away the Rt. 15/Rt. 7 interchange and firefighters had to battle the rush hour traffic on Rt. 15 north before they could even begin to fight the flames. The firefighters set up two “collapsible ponds,” into which fire tanker trucks deposited water, from which the hose crews drew upon to fight the fire. “Inside of 10 minutes of calling [911], the whole house was in flames,” said Matt Martin, a nearby neighbor The house is still owned by the developer, Van Metre Company. The buyers were Vince and Didi Spina, who are still renting a home in Leesburg. They were set to close on the house in about one month. “This is not how we wanted to get in the paper,” said Didi Spina. “We’re devastated.” 

Fire damages Utah Water Research Lab roof
LOGAN, Utah (AP) – Fire damaged the roof of the Utah Water Research Laboratory Monday, but no injuries occurred. There was no immediate damage estimate. Utah State University police Lt. Steve Milne said the fire started on the roof near the middle of the building where contractors were using a propane torch to repair the roof. Workers were heating a temporary patching substance so it would adhere to the roof’s surface.

Fire damages house
By Dawn Bowen Current-Argus Staff Writer 
Friday, April 25, 2003 – CARLSBAD – Mary Lou Carrasco and her two grandchildren escaped unharmed from her burning house Friday, thanks to two young women who warned her but left before she learned their names. “I didn’t even know I had a fire until some girls came to the door,” Carrasco said. “They were passing by and they helped me get the babies out. I didn’t even get their names.” Carrasco said she was taking care of the children – an infant and a 2-year-old child – around 11:45 a.m. while her fianc and her son were working in the back yard of her home at 807 N. Guadalupe St. She said she was startled by the two women who came to the door, then came inside the house and told her about the fire. “When I looked back there (in the yard), all I saw was flames. All I could think was to get the babies out,” she said. Assistant Fire Chief Frank Navarrette said it was a spark from a cutting torch that the men were using behind the house that started the fire. He said the men left the home for a moment, not realizing that a spark had landed in dry grass and leaves and was about to start a fire. “Any suspicious acts or arson have been ruled out. It was an accident with the cutting torch. Everything was so dry and easily caught fire,” Navarrette said. The flames quickly spread from the grass and leaves to the oxygen or acetylene tanks, causing an explosion that sent smoke and flames far above the home, he said. A patio covering at the back of the house was destroyed and the house received substantial damage when the fire penetrated into the attic of the home. The total amount of damage had not yet been determined late Friday. Navarrette said he and Fire Chief Mike Reynolds had left the fire station separately a few minutes earlier for a lunch break and were in the area near the house when they saw the smoke. Navarrette called to report the structure fire and both officials arrived at the house within minutes. “The fire chief and Frank, those guys don’t sit behind a desk. They were both here unrolling hoses and helping,” said Jeff Gordon, who was driving nearby and stopped to help. Gordon said he was headed south on Richard Street when he saw a small amount of smoke and debris rising over the house. He said at first it appeared that only leaves had caught fire, then the flames exploded in the yard and spread to the house. Gordon said he was impressed with the fast response by firefighters. “The Fire Department got here quick. I bet they weren’t here two minutes and they were already spraying water onto the house and the house next door. I bet they saved that house,” he said, pointing at the home at 809 N. Guadalupe St. According to Fire Department reports, a Jet Ski parked outside that house was destroyed by the fire and the house received smoke damage, but was not seriously damaged by the fire. Lonnie Granger said he was driving nearby when he saw flames and smoke and became concerned that someone might be inside the home. He said he drove around to the front of the house and stopped to make sure there was no one left inside. “When I pulled around here in front (of the house), I saw a lady holding two kids. She told me everyone had gotten out,” he said. Navarrette said he is proud of the firefighters who responded to the call, protected the surrounding structures and quickly put the fire out. “I want to show appreciation to Shift Commander Rolando Gonzalez and his crew for the quality and professionalism they demonstrated today,” he said. “The citizens of Carlsbad can sleep soundly at night knowing we’re at work.” The young women who warned Carrasco about the fire and others who stopped to help should also be thanked, he said. “She’s so lucky that those women came and told her. I’m sure she’s grateful,” he said. Carrasco said she is grateful for the two strangers who helped her and the children escape from the house without injury. “I would like to thank the two girls who came to help me,” she said. Carrasco, her grandchildren and members of her family watched from across the street while firefighters from four Carlsbad Fire Department stations and the Happy Valley Volunteer Fire Department worked to put out the fire. “This is a nightmare,” she said. 

Two Men Burned Defrosting a Freezer
Apr. 28 – In Madison County, a fire at a restaurant injured a father and a son. It happened at the Rock Cliff Bar-B-Cue and Cafe Sunday afternoon. The two men were using a propane torch to thaw out a freezing unit inside the cafe’s cooler. A pocket of liquid petrolium built up in the freezing unit causing a flash explosion. The father, Joe Lyda was taken to Huntsville Hospital with burns to his heads, face and chest. His son Joseph, was flown to UAB’s burn unit with burns to his face, chest and hands. There was minor damage to the business. 

Welding sparks ignite fire
Old railroad ties from around the Midwest are brought to the south end of French Island. A crane lifts the ties and sets them in a shredder as large as a city bus. Metal teeth grind the square, creosote-treated logs that were strong enough to support thousands of freight trains into strings and chips. The shredder spits the remains into an open air storage building two stories tall, where they are stored until hauled to the nearby Xcel Energy power plant for burning. It’s the product of husband and wife teamwork. Bobbi Jo Donahue runs the shredder from her yellow cab that overlooks the shredder. Just yards to the north, her husband’s crane cab sits just a little higher. Ron Donahue is the manager of the operation, after all. This weekend they saw their workplace burn. The fire late Saturday night at the shredding operation at 817 Bainbridge St. severely damaged some equipment, but caused no injuries. Sparks from welding at the site earlier in the day appear to have ignited piles of ties. Further investigation is not expected. Neighbors of the operation, who are separated from the shredding site by a steel beam storage yard of more than an acre noticed the flicker of a fire about 11 p.m. and called 911. Town of Campbell police officer Tim Placek had checked the facility about 10 p.m. and saw nothing. The fire grew quickly, neighbors say. When Campbell firefighters arrived, flames were licking at the shredder, around the crane, and beside a large metal storage container next to it. Fire had not gotten into the storage shed, said Campbell Fire Chief Gary Brauer. The La Crescent, Minn., fire department was called to help. In all, about 15 firefighters spent 21/2 hours knocking down the flames. Had the shredded ties that partially filled the storage building caught fire, Brauer said they would have been there all night. The firefighters, with their backs to the shredded ties that they first soaked, attacked the fire. They also had to go into the flames next to the container to cut loose some tanks of welding gases that were chained in place. From the container, which was hot inside and filled with toxic smoke, they removed more welding equipment, Brauer said. And they made certain to keep a diesel fuel tank under the shredder’s cab as wet and cool as possible. As it was, up to 10 small explosions popped from the blaze, Brauer and Campbell police officers at the scene said. The chief speculated some explosions could have come from the crane’s hydraulic cylinders, but he wasn’t certain. Ron Donahue assisted the fight by using a front-end loader to lift burning bundles of ties from the pile. With smoke sometimes engulfing his cab, firefighters trained their hoses on the orange glow between the bundled ties as he moved them. “He had a lot of (guts) going in with that front-end loader,” Brauer said. He said Donahue was “fabulous” to work with. Brauer was not worried the fire would reach the five or so houses neighboring the operation, because of the steel beam storage yard. He was worried about the smoke. Because ties are treated with creosote, the smoke from the fire was potentially dangerous, he said. But a light wind carried it away toward the river rather than into the neighborhood. So it wasn’t necessary to evacuate anyone, he said. In the more than 11 years the shredding operation has been at the site, welding done to repair and maintain the equipment had never caused a fire, Ron Donahue said. A water line is run to the site and is used to soak the ties and area after each welding session. He said he sprayed down the shredder about noon Saturday after changing its oil, and the employee who was welding also wet down the area. The shredder is only one of three of its kind built, the Donahues said. The operation, formerly owned by Rail Systems Inc., was sold in February to The Tie Yard of Omaha, they said. The Xcel plant has gotten most of its shredded ties from Rail Systems Inc., according to a February 2002 Tribune article. Rail Systems received its ties from a five state area, primarily from CP Rail. 

Seven Marshall Field’s employees treated for smoke inhalation
April 16, 2003 — A fire broke out at the downtown Marshall Field’s Wednesday. Seven employees in the basement cafeteria of the State Street store were taken to the hospital after being overcome with smoke. The fire started from work being done on a water pipe. “Welders in the basement started a small fire. They put it out themselves, but a fan drew smoke up into the cafeteria,” said Chief Thomas Donnellan, Chicago Fire Department. No Field’s employees suffered serious injuries and no customers were injured.

Bilge fire in Auke Bay causes little damage 
AlaskaDigest Friday, April 18, 2003 staff and Wire reports 
AUKE BAY – A barge at the Allen Marine dock in Auke Bay sustained only minor damage after a spark from a welder’s torch ignited its bilge Wednesday morning. Capital City Fire and Rescue responded to a fire around 10:30 a.m., but the fire already had been put out by the barge’s crew. Capt. Beth Weldon said the welder was installing a new oil tank. No one was injured. Damage was contained to the bilge and was less than $1,000, Weldon said.

Roofing Glue Accelerated Leesburg School Fire
Allen Browning 
Apr 18, 2003 — Roofing adhesives being used in the construction of Frances Hazel Reid Elementary School in Leesburg contributed to Monday’s blaze at the site and may be the cause of flames that engulfed a Loudoun County firefighter, building authorities said Thursday. The fire began when a construction worker using a cutting torch ignited insulation sheets that were stacked on the roof awaiting installation. It was the presence of at least one of two roofing adhesive compounds on the roof that burned Loudoun County firefighter Brett Harne, according to Loudoun County Public School Superintendent for Support Services Evan E. Mohler and Tucon Construction President Keith Maddox. Harne was flown by helicopter to a Washington, DC trauma center for treatment. He was released from the hospital later than night and has returned to duty. Despite the spectacular fire that created flames and smoke that could be seen for miles Monday, school administrators and building authorities says students will have nothing to fea from the materials being used in the roof construction. The entire roofing system to be installed at Reid Elementary is called a ballasted Firestone EPDM (ethylene-propylene-diene-terpolymer) roof. Firestone is one of the largest of several manufacturers who market EPDM systems, which are used on flat-roofed buildings. The system consists of a series of Firestone products that are laid over corrugated steel plates, which are welded to steel roof girders. The first layer is the insulation made by Firestone called ISO 95+, which was the stacked insulation that caught fire on the roof of the school. The next layer is a rubber membrane material, for which the roofing system is named, called EPDM. It comes in rolls that are unfurled into sections that cover the ISO 95+ panels, followed by gravel or rocks used to weigh the EPDM down so it does not shift or blow away with the wind. While ISO 95+ insulation panels and the EPDM will burn, they are not nearly as flammable as the various chemical compounds used to connect the sections of EPDM membrane to one another. And it is those chemicals that Mohler, Maddox and a host of other building officials believe ignited Harne, because according to Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA) code “flame spread” scales, the ISO 95+ panels are less flammable than wood. “[The panels] have a flame spread of 25,” said Mohler. “That’s not as high as dry wood, which is rated at 100. “Asbestos is rated at zero,” Mohler noted. With a flame spread of 25, the ISO 95+ insulation qualifies as a Class I material, which encompasses the least flammable materials available. By contrast, untreated wood is a Class III material, which makes it among the most flammable materials in use. Class III materials have a flame spread ranging from 76 to 200 while Class II materials range from 26 to 75. However, the adhesive chemicals present on the roof are very flammable, according to the Material Safety Data Sheets that accompany the products. Firestone Bonding Adhesive BA-2004 contains acetone, toluene, and xylene, all of which are flammable, while Firestone Lap Seam Sealant LS-3029A-1 contains naphtha, a flammable ingredient that is also used as cigarette-lighter fuel and in barbecue-lighter fluid. While the roofing adhesives are flammable, Mohler said once the roof is installed they will no longer be present at the construction site. As for the burned area, engineers for the school system and Tucon have already evaluated the damage and steps are being taken to repair it. “We’re replacing seven bar joists,” said Mohler. “It’s quicker to replace them then to mess with cleaning and repainting them.” In addition, two layers, or courses, of cinder blocks at the top of a nearby wall are also being replaced. In the meantime, construction of Frances Reid is still proceeding on other areas of the project. Attempts were made to reach the Loudoun County Fire Marshal’s Office for comment.

Investigators suspect blowtorch as cause of Oscar Mayer fire
UPDATED: 4/18/03 6:46 AM
DAVENPORT – Fire officials are still investigating a fire that broke out Thursday afternoon at Davenport’s Oscar Mayer plant. Firefighters evacuated the plant shortly after they arrived, and battled the fire for more than two hours before putting out the flames. Investigators have determined both the cause and where the fire started. The lingering question is whether or not it is safe to resume operations at the plant. The fire started on the fifth floor in some old insulation in the walls of the plant and it didn’t take long for the flames to spread. Investigators say construction workers using a welding torch sparked insulation inside the walls. Nine of the eleven Davenport fire companies were called to the scene, including a number of off-duty firefighters. Bettendorf crews were also on hand. It took about two and a half hours to extinguish the flames. Firefighters say it wasn’t an easy task. Roughly 650 employees were safely evacuated at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. Plant management has been working with the Department of Agriculture to determine when the plant will resume operation. Whether or not employees will be called back to work is still unknown. 

Two north county fires damage homes
By ERIC COLLINS Staff Writer
Flying sparks from a welder started a fire that destroyed two classic cars, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and damaged a Glen Burnie home, one of two serious blazes in north county yesterday. Four people were at the two-story home of Harold Pumphrey Sr. at 511 Pumphrey Lane when the fire started about 4:25 p.m., said Capt. Michael Cox, a county Fire Department spokesman. A family member was using a welding torch while working on a classic car in the attached garage when a spark ignited the backseat, Capt. Cox said. He and the others escaped safely. It took 45 firefighters about 30 minutes to control the two-alarm blaze, which spread into the house and caused about $190,000 damage, he said. Capt. Cox didn’t know what kind of classic cars were destroyed. “The garage burned to the ground,” he said. The fire forced the family to stay with other relatives in the area, he said. A few hours later at 8:20 p.m., a smoke detector alerted Tina Billiat, her 11-year-old son and mother to a fire in their home at 143 Olen Drive in Glen Burnie, said Capt. Lee Cornwell, another county fire spokesman. They escaped safely. It took 38 firefighters about 15 minutes to control the “all-hands” blaze, which caused $50,000 damage, Capt. Cornwell said. Officials designate a blaze as all hands to bring backup equipment and crews to the scene. Crews from the American Red Cross responded to help find the family temporary shelter. Officials believe the blaze, which appeared accidental, started in a bedroom but they had not determined the cause as of this morning, he said.

Lincoln church suffers damage after morning fire
BY WIL SHANE Northwest Arkansas Times Thursday, April 24, 2003
Roofers working on a church in Lincoln on Wednesday accidentally started a fire that ripped through the building, causing extensive damage, and rekindling the pastor’s memories of another church fire over a decade earlier. Rev. Jerry Mizell, pastor of the First Assembly of God Church, said the fire started at about 10 a.m. when roofers were applying a product called Torch On. The material is heated and rolled over roofs to seal leaks. “The heat caught a bird’s nest on fire and it spread through the attic and ceiling,” Mizell said. The pastor was dubbing cassette tapes from an Easter Cantata in the church when he smelled smoke, he explained. “I went up on the roof and talked with the roofers, but everything looked fine,” Mizell said. “So I came back down and went back to dubbing tapes.” A few minutes later, Mizell heard “a yelling, panicked sound” coming from outside. “I thought someone had fallen off the roof and hurt themselves,” Mizell said. As he was coming out of the Fellowship Hall’s back door, Mizell was met by one of the roofers, who said there was a fire. “I called 911 and started carrying out what I could,” Mizell said. He managed to save several musical instruments including keyboards, a drum set, some microphones, a Peavy bass guitar and a Takeminie acoustic guitar. A crew from the Prairie Grove Fire Department was first on the scene and a crew from the Lincoln department arrived later. When asked why the Lincoln department, which is stationed within a half mile of the church, didn’t arrive first, Mizell declined to comment. “We’re fully insured so we’re not too worried,” he said. “These things happen.” It happened to Mizell once before in 1990 when he was the pastor of an Assembly of God Church in Barling. During a remodeling project, that church burned completely to the ground, he said. “The police woke us up at 6:30 a.m. and told us the church was on fire,” Mizell recalled. Mizell’s wife, Sue Mizell, said this latest fire was much less serious than the earlier blaze. “We couldn’t rebuild the church in Barling, but we’ll be able to fix this one,” she said. “In the other fire, we lost everything, even Jerry’s library.” No cause was ever determined in the earlier fire, she added. Other than “a little smoke inhalation” incurred during his efforts to retrieve the musical instruments, Mizell suffered no injuries in the incident, he said. EMT T. J. Howerton, stationed at the Lincoln department, said most of the fire damage was in the ceiling. “When we got there, it was mostly contained in the back and in the roof,” he said. “It moved all the way through the attic and caused some pretty extensive damage.” Howerton said it was pretty clear what started the fire, but said he would make no official comment on the case until an investigation is completed. Mizell said he will meet with representatives from the church’s insurance carrier today to determine a damage estimate and to see how long it will be before the repairs can be completed. 

Fire damages Greece church
Patrick Flanigan Democrat and Chronicle 
(April 24, 2003) — GREECE — A Greece church was damaged by fire Wednesday, but the church’s pastor does not expect any interruptions to today’s scheduled services. “The damage was isolated to one room off the front vestibule,” said the Rev. John Forni, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church on West Ridge Road. “We’ll do a little cleanup and be back in business.” Bud Phillips, chief of the Greece Ridge Fire Department, said the fire was reported at 10:30 a.m. and under control within 20 minutes. It was ignited accidentally by contractors from Alliance Door & Hardware Inc. who were using an oxygen acetylene torch to replace a window in a meeting room on the west side of the building. The fire spread to the ceiling and wall. Firefighters had to break into the wall from the outside to attack the blaze. “You could hear it moving through the wall when we got here,” Phillips said of the fire. Lou Bivone, owner of Alliance Door & Hardware, said a spark from the torch got into the ceiling. The torch was opeated by a two-person crew — one who works the torch, and one who reacts in case of a fire. The crew members immediately called 911 and began battling the flames with extinguishers when the fire started, said Bivone, who noted fire-resistant blankets had been placed on the floor to keep sparks from igniting the carpet. “They did everything they were supposed to do,” Bivone said of his crew. “It’s just unfortunate that a spark went in the wrong place. This hasn’t happened in the 25 years I’ve owned the company.” Bivone said he expects his company’s insurance policies to cover the cost of the repairs. Forni said he did not know how long it would take to completely repair the damage but said the timing of the fire could have been worse. “Better this week than last week,” he said, referring to Holy Week, which precedes Easter Sunday and is one of the most active weeks on the Catholic calendar. St. John the Evangelist is the home parish for about 2,700 families. A Communion service is set today for 6:25 a.m. and a Mass for 8:15 a.m. To learn whether schedules have changed, call (585) 225-8980.

Blazing bitumen sets fire to roofs
Apr 23, 2003, 13:42:00
Workmen accidentally set fire to a roof they were repairing at a bungalow in Staffordshire when hot bitumen ignited. Within minutes flames spread from the garage roof to the house and a conservatory, causing damage running into thousands. The occupants were out at the time. Fire crews had to break in to rescue two dogs. It happened in Sunningdale Drive, Kingston Hill, Stafford, yesterday when a gas bottle became detached from a blow-torch and ignited the bitumen. Within seconds the men were faced with fierce flames and raised the alarm. The flames whipped across the bungalow roof and damaged the conservatory at the rear. Stafford fire service sub-officer Ian Jones said: “The flames spread very quickly but luckily no-one was hurt and we forced entry into the bungalow to get the dogs out. “It would appear the men had no extinguishing materials to hand, such as a small bucket of water, and we would urge anyone carrying out similar jobs and using such inflammatory material to think twice about safety precautions. “However, the men did the right thing in dialling 999 and not trying to tackle the blaze themselves.” The conservatory was worst hit and the garage and bungalow roofs were also damaged.

Smoke-filled club closed after welding accident 
SEATTLE — A smoky basement fire sparked by a welding accident temporarily shut down the Washington Athletic Club building. The incident began about 7:30 p.m. at 1325 Sixth Ave. Seattle Fire Deputy Chief Angelo Duggins said welders were trying to attach a metal casing to a door when the backing, which is made of wood, caught on fire. 

UPDATE Argonaut to open in August; Fire had delayed hotel’s premiere for more than a year 
George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, April 10, 2003 San Francisco Chronicle 
The opening of the Argonaut Hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf, delayed for more than a year because of a fire at the construction site, is now planned for August, its developer said Wednesday. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants of San Francisco, of course, is opening the hotel in the midst of an anemic economy. Hotel performance has been on a downward spiral nationwide during the past two years, putting a strain on the ability of many property managers and owners to cover expenses, noted the hospitality research group PKF Consulting. However, Gary Carr of the San Francisco PKF office noted that Fisherman’s Wharf hotels have higher occupancy rates than the rest of the city — 72.8 percent for 2002 compared with 65.4 percent for the whole of San Francisco. Even in the off month of January, wharf hotels had a rate of 57.6 percent compared with 53.3 percent overall, Carr said. Moreover, PKF expects an upturn in the hotel business and economy in general in the second half of this year, “and by that time the hotel will be up and running and that should coincide nicely for them,” he said. The hotel is housed in the 96-year-old Haslett Warehouse, which early in the last century was the largest fruit and vegetable cannery in the world. Construction of the hotel was in an early phase on the night of March 16, 2002, when a five-alarm fire damaged the fourth floor and destroyed the roof of the historic warehouse — vacant since the 1980s — at Jefferson and Hyde streets near the Hyde Street cable-car turnaround. The San Francisco Fire Department concluded the fire was a construction job accident, the source a welding operation. Damage was estimated at $5 million. The 198,000-square-foot Haslett Warehouse is owned by the National Park Service and is leased to Kimpton, which is creating the 252-room boutique hotel in the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park at Fisherman’s Wharf. Accordingly, Kimpton said Wednesday, there will be a nautical atmosphere at the Argonaut Hotel — wooden plank floors and portholes in the lobby walls, for example. Brass telescopes will be placed in suites for guests to track ships in the bay. The new hotel’s ground floor will include the maritime park’s new visitor center, and Kimpton said rent it pays will be used to help preserve the park’s historic ships — the Balclutha, C.A. Thayer, Hercules and Eureka, at Hyde Street Pier. The developer of the $40 million project is Maritime Hotel Associates LP, an affiliate of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. Kimpton’s pattern is to couple its boutique hotels with a restaurant, and adjacent to the Argonaut will be the 134-seat Blue Mermaid Chowder House, designed by Robert Puccini Design and Development of San Francisco. The warehouse fire and its aftermath caused major difficulties for tenants of the Cannery, said Chris Martin, president of Cannery Properties LLC. “It has meant dirt, noise, impact to sidewalks and streets and, obviously, we look forward to the opening of the hotel,” Martin said. He said he expects the opening to coincide with an upward movement in the economic cycle. “You want to hit it on the way up,” and the hotel, at the high end of wharf hotels, will be well positioned, said Martin. Jim Whelan, executive vice president of Kimpton Hotels, said, “This is a world-class city and Aquatic Park is a world-class destination. People will always come back to San Francisco. We expect them to come back to San Francisco when the current tumult subsides.” The four-story, timber-and-brick Haslett Warehouse was built between 1907 and 1909 by the California Fruit Canners Association. After its service as a cannery it changed hands several times and, in 1978, was transferred to the National Park Service. It was later included in the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, which was established in 1988. The City of San Francisco declared the Haslett Warehouse a historic landmark in 1974. 

Constellation plant catches fire
April 8, 2003: 8:54 AM EDT 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Constellation Nuclear said its 840 megawatt Calvert Cliffs 2 nuclear unit in Maryland caught fire Monday while the reactor was shut for a refueling outage, the company said in a report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The company, which declared an unusual event because of the incident, said the fire in the pressurizer was put out in a little over 30 minutes and did not cause damage to the plant equipment. An unusual event is the lowest of four of the NRC’s emergency classifications at U.S. nuclear power plants. The company determined the cause of the fire was “slag from welding operations that fell through some fire blankets and ignited the herculite underneath.” The unit, which shut on Feb. 18, is expected to remain shut until mid-May for the refueling and replacement of steam generators and main transformers. Meanwhile, the adjacent 835 MW Unit 1 continued to operate at full power. The Calvert Cliffs station is located about 40 miles south of Annapolis, Md. 

UPDATE Copperweld running after Friday fire
By Russ Kent News Journal 
SHELBY — Firefighters had their hands full Friday morning with a stubborn fire at LTV/Copperweld’s Plant No. 1 on Main Street. Shelby Fire Chief Scott Hartman said sparks from welding ignited oil in a machinery pit on one of the assembly lines. The oil and fire filled the plant with thick black smoke and forced employees to leave the building. “Visibility was just about zero,” Hartman said. “When we got there we thought the electric was off. It was just the smoke. You couldn’t see a thing.” Firefighters found the fire source using flashlights and a thermal-imager. “It was tough to get at,” Hartman said. “The thermal-imager came in handy because there was fire under grates and under things that would have been hard to find.” The plant remained open. “The No. 3 finishing line is down,” said Jim Baske, vice president of the Manufacturing Division. “We’re still evaluating the damage and we’re not yet sure how long it will be shut down.” Baske said no employees were injured. Hartman said firefighters were on the scene for about two hours. No firefighters were injured. 

Welder’s torch starts salvage-company fire
Friday, April 4, 2003 By MALCOLM HALL Repository staff writer
MASSILLON — A spark or the flame from a worker’s welding torch ignited gasoline fumes and caused a fire that injured him and damaged a building at Massillon Auto Recycling on Thursday morning. The employee, Scott Rossiter, suffered a leg burn. He was treated at Massillon Community Hospital and released. Rossiter, according to Fire Department officials, was using a torch to sever parts from a van. As the sparks or flame approached gasoline on the floor inside the metal and wood-frame pole storage building, the fire ignited. When firefighters arrived at the salvage company at 741 Third St. NW, “the whole building was totally involved, and we had fire extending through the roof,” said Assistant Fire Chief Dennis Brumbaugh. “It is a total loss.” Company workers stored auto parts, tools and tires in the pole building. The company was formerly known as Massillon Auto Salvage. Fire Department accounts differ slightly from the information provided by an official of the salvage company. Rossiter, according to firefighters, was using a welding torch to sever a fuel tank off the van chassis. “The tank fell, and he said the fire started then,” said Capt. Jerry Layne, the Fire Department’s fire prevention officer. “I am guessing the gas spilled out of it. And he had the torch in his hand.” However, Paul Eddleman, a company sales representative, said the fuel tank was not on the vehicle when Rossiter was using the welding torch. “He was using a torch to heat up something on the vehicle,” Eddleman said. “But the vehicle had no gas tank on it. It was a spark that hit some fuel that was on the floor.” Firefighters arrived at about 9:30 a.m. and managed to keep the blaze from spreading about 10 yards north to another steel pole building housing the company’s offices. Rossiter “alerted everyone there is a fire,” said Brian Ohm, who owns Massillon Auto Recycling. “The doors were open, so there were flames out the doors.” By late morning, a pungent odor still wafted from the burned building. Small flames were visible on the partially collapsed roof. “We had some oil tanks that were on fire,” Brumbaugh said. “We did have one 55-gallon drum that exploded. I haven’t talk to the owner to see what was in there.”

Fire at the Lion Brewery
Wilkes-Barre Fire Department kept busy Thursday night with a smokey fire at the Lion Brewery. Fire officials tell us the fire was in the wall of the scale room where the brewery weighs yeast and grain. The fire was touched off by a contractor who was cutting metal with a torch earlier in the day. There was little damage, but the health department inspected and destroyed several bags of grain and yeast.

Fire forces evacuation of UF health center
Sparks from welding equipment caused a fire that forced the evacuation of several hundred people at the J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center on Wednesday. The fire, in a sub-basement at the center’s Communicore building on the University of Florida campus, started while a worker was repairing the ventilation system, said Arline Phillips-Han, director of news and communications at the center. It broke out about 11:40 a.m., Gainesville Fire Rescue reported. The fire was in a small area of the building but, because of the confined space, produced a major amount of smoke. Two employees complained of smoke inhalation but did not need further treatment after being evaluated by paramedics, said Katy Hanrahan, a GFR spokeswoman. The building is the main headquarters for UF’s small animal research center, Phillips-Han said. “Smoke only got into one part of the animal research facility,” she said. All animals exposed to the smoke – 5,500 mice, 1,993 rats, 34 guinea pigs and 20 rabbits – were fine. But officials plan to monitor the animals closely for at least 48 hours to make sure they have no health problems. – Lise Fisher 

Fire At Carter-Finley Causes $6,000 Damage To Practice Field
April 2, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. — The fire at N.C. State Tuesday afternoon had nothing to do with a Cardiac Pack comeback. There was a grass fire on the new football practice field at Carter-Finley Stadium. A blow torch left on the field by some contract workers ignited the flames. The workers tried to put the fire out, but it spread, causing some $6,000 in damage to equipment on the field. Heavy smoke from the flames clogged traffic for a bit, and the smell of smoke wafted over Wade Avenue near the RBC Center. But the fire was put out, and everything got back to normal.

Brush Fire Shuts Down Portion Of I-40
April 1, 2003 Story by nbc17.com 
RALEIGH — Dozens of fire fighters responded to a brush fire along 1-40 near the Blue Ridge Road exit Tuesday afternoon. More than 20 acres of woodled land was burning as of 5 p.m. Officials say the blaze began around 2 p.m. and was caused by sparks from welding equipment. Western Wake Fire Chief Scottie Harris tells NBC 17 storm debris and high winds have helped to spread the fire. 

UPDATE Vietnam charges over disco fire
Police in Vietnam say they have filed charges against 11 people, including a US citizen, in connection with a fire in Ho Chi Minh City last year, in which at least 60 people were killed. he American, Nguyen Van Phuong, is the owner of the discotheque in the city’s International Trade Centre building, where the fire broke out last October during welding work. He is charged with violating fire safety regulations. The ten other people charged include the disco owner’s Vietnamese wife and the welders, who are thought to have accidentally started the fire. 

Fire on historic warship apparently started by welder’s torch
March 29, 2003 
A fire that forced the evacuation of tourists and workers aboard a historic warship docked on the waterfront at Penn’s Landing was sparked by a welder’s torch, authorities said. The fire started just after 2 p.m. Friday in the boiler room of the USS Olympia, the oldest steel-hulled American warship afloat and the last remaining naval combatant of the Spanish-American War. The flames were contained to a confined area below the ship’s deck, where work was being done on the vessel. About 120 firefighters battled the two-alarm blaze, and two fire boats had to be dispatched to help fight the fire. The fire was declared under control shortly after 3:30 p.m., officials said. There were no injuries reported and a damage estimate could not be immediately determined, officials said. The 344-foot warship was launched in 1892 and served as Commodore George Dewey’s flagship during the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. Since 1996, the Independence Seaport Museum has been working to restore the ship, a project estimated to cost up to $30 million. Workers have been removing asbestos from the ship, and doing work on sections that are below water. Museum officials said they did not know how long the ship would have to remain closed.

One man injured when sparks ignite vapors from gas tanks
MARCIA POBZEZNIK, Special to The Herald News March 25, 2003 
TIVERTON — Sparks flying in an area where there were two gas tanks that were not capped caused a fire in a concrete building at Tiverton Auto Body and resulted in one worker receiving burns to his leg. Fire Chief Alan Jack said Nathaniel Brown was cutting an exhaust off a car he had on a lift in a garage on the property of Tiverton Auto Body, 384 King Road, last Friday afternoon when sparks ignited gasoline vapors from nearby gasoline tanks that were on the floor of the garage. When another worker tried to move the gas tanks to the outside of the building, gasoline splashed from the tanks, spreading the fire along the floor. “There was heavy, heavy fire and thick black smoke,” when Firefighter Michael Donovan responded to the scene with the first fire engine, said Jack. Donovan was able to quell the fire, he said. Because the building is constructed of concrete blocks, there was minor damage to it, said Jack. Brown suffered burns to his lower leg. He had been taken to a nearby medical walk-in center by a fellow worker and was not at the scene when firefighters first arrived. Jack said the Fire Department plans to inspect the property to ensure workers are aware of the potential fire hazards. Having uncovered gasoline tanks sitting in an area where sparks are flying is high on the hazard list. 

California Fire Station Burns
HEATHER CASPI Firehouse.Com News
California’s Cameron Park Fire Department suffered massive damage Monday after a welder on the roof sparked a two-alarm blaze. About a third of the building was destroyed, including the fire station’s living quarters and administration offices, said Bill Draper, Assistant Chief in charge of administration at the California State Forestry. The station’s apparatus and shop area, and their equipment, were not damaged. The building’s repair cost is estimated at $750,000 but Draper said the department is fully insured. “To the best of our knowledge, insurance will cover the replacements,” he said. Draper said the fire was sparked by a welder fixing broken water pipes that had recently flooded the station’s first and second floors. The fire was later observed coming from the roof and was reported about 11 a.m. Cameron Park firefighters were the first on scene and were able to access their gear and respond to the fire. Several other fire departments also responded including El Dorado County and the California State Forestry, which served as incident command. Draper said there were about fifteen engines and several trucks on the scene. Draper said the department is still operating out of the station, by bringing in portable living quarters and using a vacant sheriff’s office for administration space. Cameron Park fire officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Fire destroys antique cars, tractors
By CHAD KLIMACK Advocate Reporter 
PATASKALA — A fire raced through a large garage Monday afternoon, destroying part of Pataskala Transportation Department Director Lewis Hoskinson’s antique car and tractor collection. The fire started just before 3:12 p.m. in a garage located behind the home Hoskinson and his wife, Kathy, own at 4730 Ohio 16. Hoskinson was welding a tractor when he smelled strong fumes coming from somewhere nearby. An arc from his welder ignited the mysterious fumes, and Hoskinson was instantly standing in a puddle of fire, he said. He narrowly escaped harm after pushing a 1936 Chevrolet out of the garage and going back in, despite the smoke and flames, to try and save a 1930 Model A Ford, the first car Hoskinson ever owned. Firefighters arrived at the scene at 3:20 p.m. and made Hoskinson move away from the garage, which measured 50-by-48-feet. The fire destroyed the garage, causing the roof to fall and leaving antique tractors and other equipment blackened and smoldering. The garage was insured, but Hoskinson said he did not know if the insurance would cover his possessions. Aside from a number of vehicles and tractors, the garage also contained equipment Hoskinson had acquired from the former Pataskala Shoe Repair on Wood Street. West Licking Joint Fire District handled most of the firefighting duties with mutual aid from fire departments from Alexandria, Hebron, Granville and Millersport. No one was hurt in the blaze, which firefighters contained soon after arriving at the scene. Nonetheless, police closed one lane of Ohio 16, near Indian Hills Golf Course, so fire engines and fire-related equipment could park in the road. Police re-opened both lanes close to an hour later. As for the source of the mysterious fumes, Hoskinson said he did not know where they came from. He added his family has owned the farm where the barn was located for close to 100 years. During that span, two other homes located across the street had barns that caught fire and burned to the ground, but his family had been spared until Monday. Following the fire, family members consoled the longtime-city official, and his wife said she was thankful her husband had escaped harm.

MedCath facility damaged by fire
W. Scott Bailey DBJ Contributor 
The new Heart Hospital of San Antonio, a MedCath Corp. property set to open in October, was 60 percent complete. But late Monday night – a few days shy of one year after crews broke ground – the four-story structure was struck by fire and at least one explosion. By midnight, firefighters were uncertain as to the level of damage the building had sustained. Officials with Charlotte-based MedCath also were unsure when the nearly $50 million facility now will be completed. Perhaps it was the luck of the Irish that staved off a worse disaster, as fire and MedCath officials said no one was injured. An off-duty police officer was near the building when he said he heard an explosion around 9:15 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. “We’re not sure how it started,” said Ben Hoeffner, fire chief for Balcones Heights, a San Antonio suburb and one of nine departments to respond to the blaze. “But we think it was something left from a worker that may have started this.” Hoeffner said crews had done welding work earlier in the day. He said shrtly after firefighters initially reached the roof, where much of the damage occurred based on initial reports, at least one butane bottle exploded. “I’ve never seen anything of this magnitude,” Hoeffner said of the blaze. “Not here. Not like this.” The fire’s cause remains under investigation. “Our reaction is that it’s a bricks and mortar issue,” said Bill Moore, president of MedCath’s hospital division. “To our knowledge, no one was injured. We’ll be able to build back what was damaged.” Asked how long the fire may have delayed that opening, Moore said: “We really don’t know until we see what has occurred. But our commitment to this project remains the same.” Locally, MedCath operates the Dayton Heart Hospital. The company runs 10 cardiovascular care centers in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas.

State investigation follows fire at downtown demolition site 
By Megan Woolhouse The Courier-Journal 
State safety officials have opened an investigation after Louisville firefighters said they had to make demolition workers leave a smoky building they were tearing down. But the company, CRS Demolition of Louisville, says workers evacuated the building and returned only after all danger had passed. Maj. John T. Lyons of Louisville Fire & Rescue said he was surprised to find employees of CRS Demolition still at work inside the building at Eighth Street and Broadway when firefighters arrived about 11:30 a.m. yesterday. ”We had to make them leave the building,” Lyons said. The workers had been using welding torches to dismantle portions of the former car dealership when they accidentally set a pile of rubber debris on fire. The fire was small but filled the air with dark smoke visible for several blocks, Lyons said. Jon Davies, president of CRS Demolition, 1547 S. Seventh St., said firefighters arrived after workers had put out the fire with fire extinguishers and evacuated the site. Workers stood outside the building while firefighters investigated, he said. A foreman ordered the men back to work, he said, because there was minimal smoke and the group was working on the second floor, not the first floor where the fire broke out. Davies said the company told workers to return to the job because the building was made mostly of concrete and there was little chance for the fire to spread. ”We knew it (the building) couldn’t burn,” he said. Lyons said he called the Kentucky Occupational Safety & Health Program to request the investigation. The agency’s spokesman, Eddie Jacobs, confirmed that an investigation had been opened but said he could not comment further.

Fire destroys Harvey firms
BY PHIL ROCKROHR Times Staff Writer
HARVEY — More than 75 firefighters from throughout the South Suburbs and Northwest Indiana quelled a five-alarm blaze here Friday that gutted two neighboring construction companies worth more than $1 million. Both buildings collapsed, but no one was injured, Harvey Fire Chief Greg DeGroot said. Firefighters came from as far as Crete, Tinley Park, Calumet Park and Munster. Smoke clouds were visible 10 miles away. Harvey firefighters responded to an alarm at Prairie Brick Co., 1220 W. 171st St., at 11:35 a.m., but the fire may have started earlier and employees may have tried to quell the blaze before firefighters arrived, DeGroot said. “We believe they tried to fight it themselves, by the amount of fire here when we pulled up,” he said. “Dispatch said there were multiple calls. We believe there was a delay in the alarm.” The fire was started by a Prairie employee welding company equipment in a garage, Harvey officials said. “The worker said he turned around and the next thing he knew the whole place was on fire,” Harvey Mayor Nickolas Graves said. “There were propane tanks popping like mad.” The garage was filled with propane to operate fork lifts, diesel fuel, paint and cleaning solvents, DeGroot said. The solvents included paint thinner, Capt. Steven Ciecierski said. A witness said Prairie employees ran from the garage as explosions started inside. When Harvey firefighters arrived, all 20 employees had evacuated, Ciecierski said. “They were in no hurry to stay,” he said. A Prairie cement truck driver, who declined to identify himself, confirmed the fire started on the company’s property. The driver, who said all employees were sent home early Friday afternoon, said he was not certain how the fire started. The force of the propane explosions blew out the Prairie garage’s rear wall, which abuts the rear wall of Best Homes, Inc., 1230 W. 171st St., DeGroot said. Both buildings, which sit on the southern border of Harvey outside East Hazel Crest, were destroyed, Ciecierski said. He estimated the damage at more than 1 million. Scott Arquilla, vice president of Best Homes, estimated his company’s loss alone at $1 million. “We’ll have to totally rebuild,” Arquilla said. “It’s a total loss.” Best Homes, which has operated out of the Harvey location since 1962, did $6.5 million in business last year, he said. The company employs 30 to 55 employees depending on the time of year, Arquilla said. Best Homes employees tried to stay in the building and work after the fire started, Ciecierski said. “Those people, we had to evacuate,” he said. “They didn’t want to give it up.” “We wanted to (stay), but we didn’t think it was that serious,” said Arquilla, who was present when the fire started. “All our employees left quickly and safely.” Alan Haach of Portage, a carpenter for Best Homes, said firefighters were unable to use water until 25 minutes after they arrived. Firefighters used some 1,200 feet of hose to reach the buildings, which were set back almost that far from 171st Street, Ciecierski said. “It was very unwieldy,” he said. “It’s a pain to lay all that line.” Best Homes employees informed Arquilla at about 11:30 a.m. that a Prairie building had caught fire, Arquilla said. “The flames were quite high,” he said. “Five minutes later we started hearing explosions. The fire caught our building and spread through the whole building.” Firefighters were able to save more than $250,000 in lumber in a block-long yard on the Best Homes site and to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring Alpha Construction, also owned by Arquilla’s family, he said. Some $65,000 in lumber burned inside the building, but most of the $1 million in damage was caused to the building and the company’s equipment, Arquilla said. Best Homes manufactures roof trusses, floor trusses and wall panels, he said. The fire spread very quickly because sawdust had collected on the wooden trusses, and the roofs of both building were made of wood, DeGroot said. “The fire just literally ran over their heads,” the chief said of people inside. “The explosions from the propane tanks spread the fire. There was a tremendous amount of fuel in the building.” The intense heat caused metal joists in both buildings to expand and knock down walls, including cinder-block walls in Best Homes, DeGroot said. A 100-foot antenna collapsed and narrowly missed firefighters as they sprayed about a dozen hoses on the blaze, he said. “There’s not too much you can really do on something like this, but pour water on it,” DeGroot said. “The main thing is to get the people out.” By 1:30 p.m. Friday, DeGroot said the blaze was 95 percent extinguished. By then, the once black cloud of smoke blowing northeast had transformed to gray. Since 1962, both Best Homes and Prairie Brick have maintained good safety records with Harvey officials, DeGroot said. Best Homes did not contain sprinklers because the structure was built before they were required, he said. “When they rebuild, they will be required,” DeGroot said. Haach said he was concerned about his and fellow employees’ future. “I’ve been working here for 17 years. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said. “We’re all family people here.”