Report: NFPA's "Industrial Loaders and Forklift Fires"
Author: Marty Ahrens
Issued: January 2009
An overview of fires involving industrial loaders and forklifts. The report looks at these types of fires by, area of origin, item first ignited, type of occupancy and factor contributing to ignition. Includes published incident descriptions.
Executive Summary
Industrial loaders, forklifts, and related material-handling vehicles are used in a wide variety of settings, including construction sites, industrial yards, manufacturing, and storage properties. Because these vehicles carry materials to and from storage, a fire involving such a vehicle can also be spread along the same path. Even properly operating material handling equipment can be a heat source if flammable liquids or gases leaked or spilled.
- In December 1997, a propane fueled fork lift was turned on after thousands of aerosol cans containing isobutene-propane propellants had been crushed in a recycling center’s compactor. The resulting explosion and fire overwhelmed the sprinkler system, killed a 36-year-old employee, injured three others, and destroyed the building.1
Industrial loader, forklift or related material handling vehicle operation can also damage the structure or its contents. This damage can lead to a fire.
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In 2000, a sprinkler limited the spread of an Illinois warehouse fire that began after a forklift hit a space heater and damaged the heater’s natural gas feed line.2
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In a 1987 paint warehouse fire in Ohio, cartons fell off raised pallets. Some fell on the lift truck, spilling flammable liquid, while more spilled on the floor. Sparks from the truck ignited the fire. The forklift operator was burned and the fire ultimately caused $49 million in direct property damage (in 1987 dollars).3
During 2003-2006, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated annual average of 1,340 structure and vehicle fires in which industrial loaders, forklifts, or related material-handling vehicles were directly involved in ignition per year. This typically means the vehicle was the heat source for the fire. These fires caused an estimated average of 22 civilian injuries, and $36.0 million in direct property damage per year. No deaths were reported in these incidents. The 1,340 fires include 1,220 (91%) that were coded as vehicle fires. These fires caused an average of 10 civilian injuries and $24.5 million in direct property damage per year. The 120 structure fires (9%) caused an average of 12 civilian injuries and $11.5 million in direct property damage per year.
1 Kenneth J. Tremblay, 1999, Firewatch, NFPA Journal, January/February, 19.
2 Kenneth J. Tremblay, 2001, Firewatch, NFPA Journal, March/April, 24.
3 Michael. S. Isner. Flammable Liquid Warehouse Fire, Dayton, Ohio, May 27, 1987, Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association Fire Investigations.
