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Ice covers much of a block of Main Street in Miles City, Montana, as firefighters spray water on the smoldering rubble of several buildings destroyed by fire. (Photo: AP/Wide World)
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2009 Large-Loss Fire Incidents
NFPA Journal®, November/December 2010
By Stephen G. Badger
Download the full "2009 Large Loss Fire" report (PDF, 128 KB)
The following is a complete list of large-loss fires, which are listed in descending order of loss amount in each category.
SPECIAL PROPERTIES
ILLINOIS
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
March, 9:33 a.m., $340,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This was a one- and two-story casino pavilion that covered 118,000 square feet (10,963 square meters) and was of protected noncombustible construction. An elevated walkway separated the pavilion from a two-story casino. The pavilion contained shops, restaurants, and a ballroom. At the time of the fire, the structure was undergoing major renovations, and construction workers were on site.
Fire Protection Systems
The fire alarms present operated and notified the workers, who evacuated safely. No information was reported as to the presence or absence of automatic suppression equipment.
Fire Development
A welder was adding new ductwork to existing grease ducts in the kitchen when he spotted smoke and fire. He tried to get an extinguisher but could not find it. Grease and wood structural members ignited, and the fire spread to a large ballroom, then into the hallway and throughout the building.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
The pavilion was a total loss, but the casino was untouched by the fire due to the work of the firefighters at the elevated walkway separating the two structures. The structure sustained a loss of $290 million, and its contents sustained damages of $50 million.
INDIANA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
March, 3:20 a.m., $38,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This six-story apartment building was under construction at the time of the fire. The building covered 345,000 square feet (32,052 square meters) and was of unprotected wood-frame construction. Construction was nearly complete. No one was on site at the time of the fire.
Fire Protection Systems
Neither automatic detection nor suppression equipment was present.
Fire Development
This incendiary fire was set on the ground level in the rear of the building. No further information was reported.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Firefighters were dispatched to calls for smoke in the area. Upon arrival, they found heavy smoke and fire in the building. They mounted an interior attack until conditions deteriorated and they were withdrawn. At the same time, exposure protection successfully kept the fire from spreading to two adjacent structures.
WASHINGTON
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
November, 1:06 a.m., $19,784,856.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This two-story middle school of unprotected ordinary construction covered 28,000 square feet (2,601 square meters). The building was being renovated at the time. No one was on site when the fire broke out.
Fire Protection Systems
Smoke detection equipment was present throughout the school, and there were manual pull stations at the exits. The smoke alarms were not located in the area of the fire, but they activated. There was a partial-coverage wet-pipe sprinkler system, but the fire broke out above the system so, although it activated, it was ineffective.
Fire Development
The fire, the cause of which was undetermined, broke out in the ceiling-attic assembly.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Upon finding heavy fire and smoke issuing from the school, arriving firefighters began an interior attack. Due to fire growth and deteriorating conditions, however, they were withdrawn to an exterior attack. Structural damage was reported at $19,270,487; damage to its contents was reported to be more than $500,000.
WASHINGTON
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
June, 8 p.m., $12,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This five-story apartment building was under construction, covered 11,250 square feet (1,045 square meters), and was of unprotected wood-frame construction. No one was at the site at the time of the fire.
Fire Protection Systems
The automatic detection system had not yet been installed. Although a sprinkler system had been installed up to the second story, it was not yet operational.
Fire Development
Roofers had been using a torch during the day. Several spot fires had occurred, but they were thought to have been extinguished. However, overlooked embers had fallen into the void between the insulation, ceiling, and roof assembly, and a breeze provided enough air for a fire to flare up nearly four hours later. The fire spread rapidly through the wooden construction.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Sheetrock had not yet been installed to protect the wood framing, and the fire spread rapidly, completely destroying the building.
MONTANA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
March, 8:30 a.m., $10,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This two-story block of stores was being renovated in a downtown area. The store in which the fire started was 140 feet (43 meters) by 25 feet (8 meters) and was of unprotected wood-frame construction. Construction workers were on site when the fire broke out.
Fire Protection Systems
Neither automatic detection nor suppression equipment was present.
Fire Development
This fire broke out when embers from hot work fell into a basement partition wall and ignited paper or plastic. The fire then ignited wood framing and joists, and spread to the first and second stories through the balloon construction.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Hot work was done without a fire watch, and there were no portable extinguishers at the location. Firefighters were able to make an interior attack before conditions deteriorated and crews were withdrawn. Winds blowing at 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour and gusting up to 50 miles (81 kilometers) per hour hindered firefighting operations.
OKLAHOMA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
October, 6:01 p.m., $10,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This four-story, 148-unit apartment building was under construction. The building covered 179,000 square feet (16,630 square meters) and was of unprotected wood-frame construction. Construction workers were at the site when the fire broke out.
Fire Protection Systems
No information was reported as to the presence or absence of smoke alarms. A wet-pipe sprinkler system was present, but its coverage was not reported. The system failed to operate, but the reason for this was not reported.
Fire Development
The only information reported was that the fire broke out in a storage room on the first floor.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
None reported.
MANUFACTURING PROPERTIES
MINNESOTA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
April, 10:22 a.m., $50,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This two-story meat preparation plant covered 300,000 square feet (27,871 square meters) and was of unprotected ordinary construction. The plant was in full operation at the time of the fire.
Fire Protection Systems
There was no detection equipment or suppression equipment present.
Fire Development
The fire began in the ceiling near the exhaust chimney of a cooker and burned undetected for a while.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Firefighters had trouble reaching the fire because of barriers and obstructions created by multiple ceilings and extensive piping between the ceilings. Firefighters were concerned about a potential release of anhydrous ammonia. The fire destroyed more than a million pounds (453,592 kilograms) of food.
ARKANSAS
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
July, 4:43 a.m., $25,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This one-story machinery parts manufacturing plant covered 250,000 square feet (23,226 square meters). Its type of construction was not reported. No one was at the site when the fire broke out.
Fire Protection Systems
Neither automatic detection nor suppression equipment was present.
Fire Development
Lightning struck a roof vent and started a fire in the storage area.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
A security guard in a nearby facility detected the fire nearly 3½ hours after the lightning strike and called the fire department to report smoke in the area. By the time firefighters arrived, the factory was heavily involved in flames. The delayed discovery, as well as the high-rack storage, made fighting the blaze difficult. Damage to the structure was estimated at $15 million, and damage to its contents was estimated at $10 million. The large monetary loss was due to a large number of machines and a warehouse full of finished product.
WASHINGTON
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
May, 10:35 p.m., $15,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This one-story wood truss and beam laminating plant was of unprotected noncombustible construction and covered 5,000 square feet (465 square meters). No one was in the plant at the time of the fire.
Fire Protection Systems
No smoke alarms or suppression equipment were present.
Fire Development
The cause and origin of the fire were undetermined.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Damage to the building came to $5 million; damage to its contents came to $10 million.
CALIFORNIA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
September, 10:34 a.m., $12,500,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This two- and three-story saw mill was of unprotected, wood-frame construction, had metal-covered walls, and covered 19,500 square feet (1,812 square meters). The mill was operating at the time of the fire.
Fire Protection Systems
There were no smoke alarms. A dry-pipe sprinkler system of unreported coverage was present, and all the sprinklers activated, but no water flowed because a backflow device had been turned off.
Fire Development
The fire began when cutting torch operations ignited sawdust and wood chips.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
The rapid fire spread was attributed to the presence of sawdust, pitch, and a large quantity of wood throughout the structure. The fire also spread through the many vertical openings in the walls. Lack of water prevented the sprinkler system from controlling the fire. Air tankers made two fire retardant drops, followed by water drops from helicopters. The loss to the structure was estimated at $12 million and to the contents at $500,000.
WILDLAND
CALIFORNIA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
May, 1:40 p.m., $100,000,000
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This fire occurred in a wildland/urban interface area.
Weather Conditions
The temperature at the time was in the 80oF (20oC) range, and wind was from the west at 5 miles (8 kilometers) per hour.
Fire Development
The fire broke out when a metal cutting wheel on a brush trimmer hit a rock and the spark ignited fine fuels. The fire smoldered undetected by the equipment operator until a motorist on a nearby highway spotted it about an hour after ignition.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
The fire destroyed 82 homes and burned 8,733 acres (3,534 hectares). Thirty-two firefighters were injured fighting this fire. At one time, a fire shelter was deployed, but it was abandoned before it was used.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
April, 12:22 p.m., $44,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This fire occurred in a wildland/urban interface area.
Weather Conditions
The temperature was 71°F (22°C), humidity was 25 percent, winds were from the west at 17 miles (27 kilometers) per hour with gusts to 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour, and rainfall was below normal.
Fire Development
A property owner’s debris fire burned out of control and started this 19,130-acre (7,742-hectare) wildfire.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Gusty winds, dry conditions, and volatile vegetation of pine, palmetto, gall berry (shrub), wax myrtles, and other waxy plants contributed to the fast spread of this fire. Organic soils allowed the fire to burn under the fire lines, trees with no root systems to fall, and equipment to bog down in the many snags and holes. On the first night of the blaze, two firefighters operating tractors were forced to deploy their fire shelters when the wind shifted and their vehicles bogged down. They were uninjured. The fire destroyed 76 homes and damaged another 97, causing up to 4,000 people to evacuate their homes. Timber loss was estimated at $17 million, and structural and content loss in the city was estimated at $20.5 million. The rest was miscellaneous county, state, and forestry losses to fences, outbuildings, roads, and other infrastructure.
CALIFORNIA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
August, 2:22 p.m., $25,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This fire occurred in a wildland/urban interface area.
Weather Conditions
Temperature at the time was 90°F (32°C), and the wind was from the west at 15 miles (24 kilometers) per hour.
Fire Development
This was an incendiary fire. No further information was reported.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
The wind-driven fire destroyed 65 homes and 5 businesses, and burned 311 acres (126 hectares).
STORAGE PROPERTIES
NORTH CAROLINA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
April, 9:40 p.m., $30,000,000
Time: Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This one-story produce warehouse, which contained crates of sweet potatoes, was of unprotected noncombustible construction and covered 40,000 square feet (3,716 square meters). The facility was closed for the weekend.
Fire Protection Systems
No information was reported as to the presence or absence of automatic detection equipment. There was a partial-coverage wet-pipe sprinkler system, which activated and kept the fire from spreading into the protected area of the building.
Fire Development
The cause of the fire was unknown and is under investigation. The fire began in an exterior shelter and spread into and throughout the nonprotected area of the warehouse. Upon arrival, firefighters found the warehouse well involved. An arriving pumper supplied the sprinkler system in the protected area of the building through the fire department connection, while firefighters made a defensive attack against the involved section.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Two firefighters were injured. The loss to the building was estimated at $15 million, and damage to the contents was estimated at $15 million.
OHIO
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
May, 12:07 a.m., $29,680,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This 20-acre (8-hectare) chemical waste facility comprised eight structures of various types and sizes. The explosion occurred in a one-story building that covered 7,500 square feet (697 square meters). The type of construction was not reported. At the time of the explosion, six workers were in different parts of the facility.
Fire Protection Systems
Smoke alarms were present in the building where ignition occurred, but their coverage was not reported, and it is not known if they operated. There was no automatic suppression equipment.
Fire Development
A flame in a natural gas burner in the lab/operations building in front of the tank farm ignited a vapor cloud from an overpressure leak in the tank farm, causing a large explosion and fire.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
The explosion heavily damaged all the structures in the facility, as were about 20 surrounding residences and 5 businesses. Four civilians were injured in the explosion, and a firefighter was injured fighting the fire.
FLORIDA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
October, 6:51 p.m., $10,300,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This single-story book storage building covered 19,500 square feet (1,812 square meters). No information about the operation of the building or the type of construction was reported.
Fire Protection Systems
Neither smoke alarms nor automatic suppression equipment was present.
Fire Development
No information was reported.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Damage to the structure was estimated at $10 million, and damage to its contents was estimated at $300,000.
VEHICLE
TEXAS
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
April, 3:55 a.m., $44,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
A tractor-trailer containing electronic equipment for television sports broadcasting caught fire on an interstate highway. The operator was the only person in the truck.
Fire Development
No information was reported.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
No information was reported.
TEXAS
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
January, 4:38 a.m., $10,500,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This fire involved a twin-engine cargo plane landing at an airport.
Fire Development
The plane crashed short of the runway, struck the approach lighting system, and caught fire.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Fire damage to the aircraft was estimated at $10 million, while damage to the cargo it was carrying was estimated at $500,000. For further information, read the NTSB accident report online.
RESIDENTIAL
MICHIGAN
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
July, 4:19 a.m., $25,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This two- and three-story, single-family home of unprotected wood-frame construction covered 23,000 square feet (2,137 square meters). The house was occupied at the time of the fire.
Fire Protection Systems
Smoke alarms of unreported coverage operated to alert the occupants. There was no automatic suppression equipment.
Fire Development
The cause of this fire, which broke out in a lower-level recreation room, was undetermined. It traveled into a void between the floors and up the walls to the upper-level hallway.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
The occupant evacuated the structure. Firefighters were forced from an interior attack by a back draft on the upper level of the house. Damage to the structure was estimated at $15 million, and damage to the contents, which included artwork, was put at $10 million.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
July, 8:15 p.m., $15,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This three-story, single-family home of unprotected wood-frame construction covered 1,710 square feet (159 square meters). There was one person at home when the fire broke out.
Fire Protection Systems
Smoke alarms of unreported coverage were present and operated. No automatic suppression equipment was present.
Fire Development
The cause of this fire, which broke out on a balcony or porch, is under investigation.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
The fire was shielded from public view until it had engulfed a large portion of the porch and a neighbor spotted it. Another neighbor’s attention was caught by the sounding alarms around the same time. Multiple roof, floor, and ceiling collapses forced firefighters to an exterior position. The water supply was an issue, although no further information was reported. Damage to the structure, which contained quite a bit of combustible artwork and decorative finishes, was estimated at $6 million. Damage to the contents, including the artwork, was estimated at $9 million. One firefighter was injured. The occupant evacuated the structure unharmed.
BASIC INDUSTRY
TEXAS
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
July, 5:36 p.m., $20,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
The fire started in a manure tunnel connecting one barn of this 11-barn egg farm to another that was 20 feet (6 meters) high, of unprotected wood-frame construction, and covered 45,000 square feet (4,181 square meters). This barn and four others were destroyed. No one was in the facility at the time of the fire.
Fire Protection Systems
Neither automatic detection nor suppression equipment was present.
Fire Development
The fire broke out in a manure tunnel where welding had been done earlier. Hot materials that had dropped into the manure and feathers on a conveyer belt flamed after the workers had left for the day, and the fire burned in the tunnel between the buildings before it spread to the barns.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Firefighters from 12 departments arrived to find at least two barns totally engulfed in flames and tried to cool exposed structures using an irrigation well on an adjacent property as a water supply. Three firefighters were injured in the process.
ILLINOIS
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
September, 1:33 p.m., $12,000,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This was a transformer next to a power plant. No additional information was reported.
Fire Protection Systems
There was no information available as to the presence or absence of detection equipment. A fire pump and an unreported type of suppression system failed to operate for an unreported reason.
Fire Development
A mechanical malfunction in the transformer led to the fire, which spread to the roof of the power plant.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
By the time local fire companies arrived, the plant fire brigade had extinguished the transformer fire using foam, and the brigade and the fire department together extinguished the fire on the roof. Water from a nearby lake had to be drafted and trucked to the scene, so additional tankers were called to assist. Early in the incident, live power lines overhead hampered firefighters’ activities.
EDUCATIONAL PROPERTIES
OHIO
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
February, 5:25 p.m., $22,500,000.
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This fire started in a tunnel containing wire and fiber optics that extended into a one-story college classroom building that covered 10,000 square feet (929 square meters). The building, which was of protected noncombustible construction, was closed at the time of the fire.
Fire Protection Systems
Neither smoke alarms nor automatic suppression equipment was present.
Fire Development
The cause of the fire was not reported.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
Fire and smoke damaged at least 10 other buildings on campus. Three firefighters were injured during extinguishment operations.
STORES AND OFFICES
TEXAS
Date, Time of Alarm, Dollar Loss
May, 8:30 p.m., $20,000,000
Property Characteristics and Operating Status
This two-story furniture store of unprotected ordinary construction was open and operating at the time of the fire. The ground floor area was not reported.
Fire Protection Systems
The store had no automatic detection systems. A dry-pipe sprinkler system of unreported coverage operated, but the fire overwhelmed it, and it shut down within minutes of operating. No reason for this was given.
Fire Development
Someone started this incendiary fire by pouring gasoline in the warehouse and igniting it with an open flame. The fire quickly spread to several pallets containing 150 gallons (568 liters) of highly flammable fabric protector.
Contributing Factors and Other Details
The fabric protector, which was insoluble in water, and the fire loading in the warehouse allowed the blaze to accelerate. Damage to the structure was estimated at $5 million, and damage to its contents was estimated at $15 million. One firefighter was injured.