Massive fire at Walmart e-commerce center

[PimTac]

Like that Navy ship that just burned, this is odd. All the fire suppression systems you'd think this is not possible but here we are.

The ship that burned had the suppression systems disabled in some areas.


A good question to ask, if you see a fire at your workplace do you yell fire and run or do you yell fire and try to put it out? That of course depends on the size of the fire and other things.

 

[tcp71]

With the amount of plastic crap sold at Walmart, it doesn't take much to create a very toxic plume of smoke. Plastics (especially cheap plastics) can be very flamable.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Sabotage?

 

[MNgopher]

Interesting if you look on google maps, you can clearly see what appears to be two steel tanks at the SW corner of the facility. At a normal warehouse, typically these are used for large warehouses when municipal water pressure/supply is poor...

Again, we only know there is a large fire. We don't know the source or if the fire supression system is working as designed...

 

[Dave Hess]

Sabotage?

Look how fast the Amazon warehouse in California went up in flames after the arsonists set fire.

 

[Kira]

"When the dust/smoke settles, the story will come out." You mean A story will come out.
Then, if other stories come out, everyone except those involved will have forgotten about it.
1) We're a "news numbed nation". It's a fire which will be on the tube for 10 seconds.....just like 1,400 people killed by some tsunami somewhere
2) My father was in the NYC Fire Department so don't even think in terms of calling this post glib or disrespectful. It's neither.

 

[MNgopher]

My point was essentially every post in this thread is assuming a reason why the fire started and spread. Yet nobody hear appears to be credible or actually have any first hand knowledge.

So the story now is there is a large fire.

The questions on how and why will come later - and aren't part of our instant gratification society.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

The ship that burned had the suppression systems disabled in some areas.


A good question to ask, if you see a fire at your workplace do you yell fire and run or do you yell fire and try to put it out? That of course depends on the size of the fire and other things.

Look how fast the Amazon warehouse in California went up in flames after the arsonists set fire.

Maybe a disgruntled employee. As mentioned.. we don't really know yet. We just see a huge fire giving off huge plumes of black smoke, maybe building material, maybe oil, could be a lot of things. Looks nasty. Mentioned several times it looks like a 9-11 type of fire .

As to the bolded question.. many companies have the policy, pull fire alarm, call fire department, evacuate building, and then, yes, may have the clause, do not attempt to put fire out yourself.

They probably have this in place for if the employee somehow gets injured trying to put out the fire.

Some companies say, only attempt to do so if you feel comfortable. There ARE fire extinguishers on every support column, other places.. I am one of the only ones that will not put things in front of fire extinguishers.

Let's see what develops here.

 

[WeyounDS9]

Black Smoke means burning hydrocarbons

 

[IndyFan]

Fire has hit a Walmart e-commerce center in Plainfield, Indiana. To say it’s massive is an understatement. Pic from my driveway a few hours ago from 10 miles away during an otherwise sunny day. The smoke was picked up on radar for at least 20 miles! Fortunately everyone accounted for. View attachment 92941View attachment 92942View attachment 92943

I'm a middle school principal not far to the east from this fire. We watched the smoke billowing up and monitored our air quality for outdoor activities. Fortunately, the wind took it to the north. Our other schools in the area tested air quality at elevated but acceptable levels.

I don't think I've ever witnessed such a smoke cloud in my 53 years on the planet. That was some fire!

 

[IndyFan]

With the amount of plastic crap sold at Walmart, it doesn't take much to create a very toxic plume of smoke. Plastics (especially cheap plastics) can be very flamable.

The initial smoke was much more white than what went up later. So clearly more paper/cardboard at first.

 

[PimTac]

Maybe a disgruntled employee. As mentioned.. we don't really know yet. We just see a huge fire giving off huge plumes of black smoke, maybe building material, maybe oil, could be a lot of things. Looks nasty. Mentioned several times it looks like a 9-11 type of fire .

As to the bolded question.. many companies have the policy, pull fire alarm, call fire department, evacuate building, and then, yes, may have the clause, do not attempt to put fire out yourself.

They probably have this in place for if the employee somehow gets injured trying to put out the fire.

Some companies say, only attempt to do so if you feel comfortable. There ARE fire extinguishers on every support column, other places.. I am one of the only ones that will not put things in front of fire extinguishers.

Let's see what develops here.

The investigation will hopefully reveal some answers.

We had a large cold storage plant go up in our area several months ago. It was big in a hurry. The arriving fire crews called for a second and third alarms right off. Later it went to four alarms.

It burned for a few days.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Terrorist attack? (Russia?)

 

[PimTac]

With the amount of plastic crap sold at Walmart, it doesn't take much to create a very toxic plume of smoke. Plastics (especially cheap plastics) can be very flamable.

It’s the same stuff sold in every store nowadays.

 

[Pat in Speedway]

I'm a middle school principal not far to the east from this fire. We watched the smoke billowing up and monitored our air quality for outdoor activities. Fortunately, the wind took it to the north. Our other schools in the area tested air quality at elevated but acceptable levels.

I don't think I've ever witnessed such a smoke cloud in my 53 years on the planet. That was some fire!

Other than the occasional fire we see at one of the junkyards over by Tibbs that gives off a good burning tire show for an hour, I’ve never seen anything like this around here either! (53 as well…Warren Central ‘86).

 

[Pat in Speedway]

Hearing this was a 1.2 million square foot facility with 1,000 employees. All accounted for and safe.

 

[Malo83]

26 yrs working at a WM DC center, place is nothing but cardboard, wood pallets and plastics, lot of petroleum and flammable products stored in racks, tons of oil, grease and pressurized gas containers, they have a special room that only flammables are stored, the whole warehouse is protected by overhead sprinklers and fire doors to contain the flames, all the equipment, forklifts are battery operated, had to have been some sort of explosion to spread that fast.
Our DC is over 1 million sq ft and empolyes over 1,000
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=907905579299955

 

[Owen Lucas]

I'm a middle school principal not far to the east from this fire. We watched the smoke billowing up and monitored our air quality for outdoor activities. Fortunately, the wind took it to the north. Our other schools in the area tested air quality at elevated but acceptable levels.

I don't think I've ever witnessed such a smoke cloud in my 53 years on the planet. That was some fire!

How do you monitor air quality? Do you have equipment on campus or are there gov't run meters near by with instant data?

 

[Hall]

Interesting if you look on google maps, you can clearly see what appears to be two steel tanks at the SW corner of the facility. At a normal warehouse, typically these are used for large warehouses when municipal water pressure/supply is poor...

From a quick look, none of the other warehouses have similar tanks though. Those tanks are large too !! 30,000 gallons or more each ?

 

[PimTac]

Hearing this was a 1.2 billion square foot facility with 1,000 employees. All accounted for and safe.

Probably 1.2 million? Still a sizable structure.