# lost a sprinklered building and a fire truck



## cda (Oct 4, 2011)

WAXAHACHIE, Texas -- A fire that "outran the sprinklers" at a chemical plant near U.S. 287 and Interstate 35E on Monday forced the evacuation of nearby schools and neighborhoods and filled the air with dense, black smoke for much of the afternoon.

The fire at the Magnablend plant started about 11 a.m. after chemicals that were being mixed combusted, officials said. It was contained about 8 p.m.

The fire caused no air-quality problems, said Amy Hollywood, a Waxahachie spokeswoman.

Witnesses reported hearing repeated explosions from the plant, which is about 50 miles southeast of downtown Fort Worth.

The building where the fire started had sprinklers, "but the fire outran the sprinklers," Waxahachie Fire Chief David Hudgins said.

Firefighters from Waxahachie and surrounding cities, including DeSoto, Red Oak, Ennis and Midlothian, fought the blaze.

"We were the fifth company to arrive, and the flames were shooting 150 to 200 feet in the air," Red Oak firefighter Brandon Nichols said.

Early in the firefighting, a tank released a flood of some kind of flammable liquid that spread flames faster, Hudgins said.

About two hours after they began fighting the fire, Hudgins said he thought they were getting it under control.

"Then there was another release of liquid," he said.

The flames spread so fast that they ran under and engulfed an Ennis firetruck before it could be moved.

Those flames also threatened several nearby railcar tankers where chemicals were stored, Hudgins said.

Two Magnablend employees sustained minor injuries, WFAA/Channel 8 reported.

As dense, black smoke billowed above the area, neighborhoods were evacuated, including Wedgeworth Elementary School, Navarro College at Waxahachie and the Solon Place Apartments.

U.S. 287 and Solon Road were closed throughout the day but reopened about 4 p.m.

Officials said residents were let back into most of the evacuated areas late Monday afternoon.

Staff writers Mitch Mitchell, Domingo Ramirez Jr. and Jack Z. Smith contributed to this report.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

http://www.firehouse.com/stateprovince/texas/massive-texas-chemical-plant-fire-outran-sprinklers


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## FM William Burns (Oct 4, 2011)

Yea......what are the odds?


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## RJJ (Oct 4, 2011)

The TV footage I saw was a real hot, fast fire. Not sure what  the odds are for a fire like that,but the sprinklers seem to do little.


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## TJacobs (Oct 4, 2011)

If they had those plastic carboys the end result isn't too surprising. Not sure if they had AFFF foam sprinklers or enough containment...

I wouldn't want to be the officer that ordered that >$500,000.00 tower ladder in between the building and tank trailers and more carboys.

ops


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## cda (Oct 4, 2011)

There may have been an explosion inside the building that may have taken out piping


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## beach (Oct 4, 2011)

They lost a truck.... this is a good lesson for the need for containment areas:

http://www.wfaa.com/featured-content/Firetruck-ingulfed-in-flames-from-Waxahachie-chemical-fire-130991348.html


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## Oldfieldguy (Oct 5, 2011)

Wrong place, wrong side of the building. I was more worried about the firefighters, especially in the platform of that sweet looking Sutphen tower ladder.

The best strategy would have not put a drop of water on it and let it burn itself out. The company was handling some pretty nasty stuff and with the amount of flammable and combustible liquids, the heat of combustion would have taken care of most of the problems.

That building was most likely not even close to complying with the IBC requirements for a Group H occupancy. I suspect it was an existing, nonconforming occupancy.

It looks like the CSB isn't going to investigate but we'll never know.


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## cda (Oct 5, 2011)

It was reported as being about two year old building

They had alot of various exposure problems

Yes maybe no water on the building, try to protect exposures


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## FM William Burns (Oct 5, 2011)

I sent a link from FD nation I saw before this posting to an architect/project manager I was working with on a project here.  The title......"What are the odds" with the reason being that I hear this often. Companies build sites in BFE because the chances of regulatory analysis are weaker and profits are greater.  They wonder why we require existing facilities to upgrade, new facilities to be minimally protected as applicable and ask questions on what is being stored, processed or used and how and what are the containers and protection........what are the odds...... huh?


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## Builder Bob (Oct 5, 2011)

It would appear that the design of the sprinkler system may not been in accordance to the contents.......

in plain english, (using a reverse analogy) - The carburator jets (sprinkler heads and piping) were to small to supply adequate fuel (water) to substain combustion(put the fire out).

i.e. sprinkler heads and piping were inadequate to supply enough water to put the fire out or hold it in check.


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## cda (Oct 5, 2011)

If there was a blast and it took out sprinkler piping, the best designed system is not worth much at that point


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## TJacobs (Oct 5, 2011)

Well said FM.


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## JustReid (Oct 6, 2011)

I hope that NFPA, NIST or somebody will do an investigative report on this fire so we can understand it better. If it was only designed two years ago, there was either multiple design flaws or we need to seriously look at our codes. Likely the former though.


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## Insurance Engineer (Oct 9, 2011)

IF they had any of the plastic IBC containers,based on the photos/videos I saw of the fire, they had a LOT. Take a look at this full scale testing video of combustible and flammable liquids in plastic IBC and see what happens when fire and plastic come together!

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr564/index.htm

They are used a lot since DOT permits them from loading dock to loading dock, BUT when they get into a plant and or warehouse setting, LOOK OUT!! Do not overlook containment of liquids, some folks just look at the sprinklers and forget that it is only part of the fire protection requirements. Water and burning liquids usually do not result in a good outcome.

Thanks god the brothers on the tower truck got away safely, had the bucket been up and operating the outcome could have been must worse, you can always buy a new tower!


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## permitguy (Oct 9, 2011)

The bucket had been up just before.  Luckily, a smart officer recognized what was happening and ordered it lowered so his crew could get away safely.  They couldn't see what was coming from their elevated position.  Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to pull in the outriggers and move the truck out of harms way.

http://www.firehouse.com/topics/emergency-vehicles-and-operation/texas-chief-firefighters-relied-training-flames-approached-rig


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## cda (Jan 18, 2012)

a little up date;

not much code info though::

http://www.fireworld.com/ifw_articles/waxahachieFIRE.php

Raw material stored on site at the affected Magnablend plant included anhydrous ammonia, urea, potash, nitric acid, diammonium phosphate, phosphorous and phosphoric acids, used in the manufacture of fertilizers and other products.

SCALING UPThe Magnablend site that caught fire employs about 40 people. On the morning of the fire, workers were occupied with the first attempt to scale up the manufacture of a wastewater treatment product from a routine batch of 500 gallons to an amount five times greater.

“This product generates hydrogen gas when it is made,” Hudgins said. “Workers started getting what they described as a steam cloud off the product that scared them.” True, previous batches had produced the same effect, but this cloud was overwhelming.

“That steam contained a lot of hydrogen gas, which is flammable,” Hudgins said.

Hydrogen, like alcohol, burns very clean, making flames that are all but invisible.

“The workers could not see the ceiling for the rising cloud,” Hudgins said. “Pieces of ash like burned paper started falling on them.”

At least one escaping eyewitness observed flames that activated the sprinkler system. At about 10:45 a.m. the fire department received an automatic alarm from the plant simultaneous with numerous calls from Navarro College reporting smoke rising next door, Hudgins said.

“We had no engine hooked up to a hydrant yet so we were only able to operate the ladder pipe,” Hudgins said. “By the time we did get set up, an automatic fire door on the far side of the building had come down and we were not able to cut off the fire.”

“About the time the back wall caved, the truck engine started to race to its maximum, telling us we had lost the sprinkler system,” Hudgins said.


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