1.2 million SQ/ft Walmart warehouse fire 3_16_22

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In all the videos and photos, I saw only 2 aerial streams working the fire. Without meaning to Monday morning quarterback, how come there wasn't more of an FD presence? Were there water supply problems?
 
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In all the videos and photos, I saw only 2 aerial streams working the fire. Without meaning to Monday morning quarterback, how come there wasn't more of an FD presence? Were there water supply problems?
I saw 4 or 5 on the 2 side in one video. They were less than effective as they were outside of the collapse zone. Looked like a lot of arching of their streams to hit the roof.
That being said, I did listen to the radio for awhile and it seemed like a LOT of tanker operations even with hydrants in the area.
 
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In all the videos and photos, I saw only 2 aerial streams working the fire. Without meaning to Monday morning quarterback, how come there wasn't more of an FD presence? Were there water supply problems?
I believe I read somewhere that they did have water supply issues.

Warehouse looks fairly modern. Wonder what happened with any built in fire suppression systems.
 
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I believe I read somewhere that they did have water supply issues.

Warehouse looks fairly modern. Wonder what happened with any built in fire suppression systems.
what I noticed was the semi's in the loading dock bays on fire as well. There is usually a considerable distance between the merchandise area where the stock is held and the actual trucks. Just my two cents worth. I guess this is why you should pre-fire plan. I drive near one in central Illinois and that facility is enormous. It is located in mostly farm land, a fire there would overwhelm the small departments in the area.
 
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Bulldog

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I drive near one in central Illinois and that facility is enormous. It is located in mostly farm land, a fire there would overwhelm the small departments in the area.
That's a problem with a lot of these massive warehouses, they are located in fairly rural areas so their fire departments do not have the resources required to find a major fire in 1 of them. I could also be 1 of the reasons we don't see the huge number of aerial devices fighting the fire that we would expect to see in many urban areas. Between the lack of water which seems like it occurred and lesser trained fire departments with fewer resources means a great deal of difficulty containing this type of fire.
 
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I know from reports/radio traffic that were was a significant water shuttle going on with tankers. It makes me wonder if they had the same problem my small Arkansas town has with small-ish water mains. We ran town essentially out of water one night when an apartment complex went up.

With a quick response time, it makes me think access problems or something inside going 'boom' and making the situation untenable.
 
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I know from reports/radio traffic that were was a significant water shuttle going on with tankers. It makes me wonder if they had the same problem my small Arkansas town has with small-ish water mains. We ran town essentially out of water one night when an apartment complex went up.

With a quick response time, it makes me think access problems or something inside going 'boom' and making the situation untenable.
Some of the videos do show and you can hear explosions with fireballs going 200 to 300' into the sky
 

Bulldog

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That's an interesting audio to listen to. I stated the fire was on the 2nd floor, normally in facilities like this a 2nd floor and only in the office areas, not in the warehouse itself. He will be interested see how it shakes out as the investigation continues as to where the fire actually started.

It's also interesting that probably 15 minutes into the audio they call the fire under control! I guess that actually didn't happen.

Obviously, we were not on scene and don't know what happened but it sounds like they shut down the fire pumps and the risers to early! Also soon after they turn them back on you can hear them saying that the fire pumps were cavitating which would go along with the fact that it may have had water supply issues. It certainly was amazing however how calm all the communications sounded!
 
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That's an interesting audio to listen to. I stated the fire was on the 2nd floor, normally in facilities like this a 2nd floor and only in the office areas, not in the warehouse itself. He will be interested see how it shakes out as the investigation continues as to where the fire actually started.

It's also interesting that probably 15 minutes into the audio they call the fire under control! I guess that actually didn't happen.
Second floor how about a dining/eating area in addition to office spaces. Thousand people were working, they have to go someplace for their meals.
 
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Watching a news conference via You Tube, Chief Anderson said fire suppression system was working when they arrived. He stated the raisers were turned off but not the suppression system.
 

Bulldog

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Watching a news conference via You Tube, Chief Anderson said fire suppression system was working when they arrived. He stated the raisers were turned off but not the suppression system.
I'm sure why you would turn off the risers since they were probably using them as a source of water for their hose lines so far into the building. If anything it seems like you turn off the suppression system and leave the risers charged. Also, when you listen to the audio provided above they did shut down the fire pump(s) so even if they left the suppression system on it probably didn't have sufficient water to be effective.
 
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