Officials say sprinklers at California medical equipment warehouse didn’t work during blaze
TRACY, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters responding to a fire fire that destroys A large medical equipment warehouse in Northern California was blocked from flying embers for miles by malfunctioning sprinklers and hydrants, officials said Friday.
The 1 million-square-foot (93,000-square-meter) warehouse in Tracy, a city about 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) east of San Francisco, provided medical equipment to area hospitals. It is owned by Medline, a major medical-surgical product provider of equipment such as latex gloves, masks, surgical instruments and other medical supplies.
Thick black smoke billowed from the area Friday as firefighters continued to extinguish hot spots.
Authorities said they did not yet know why the water system malfunctioned during the fire, but that the problem was caused by the facility’s system, not the city’s water supply. The fire broke out around 13:00 on Thursday. Tracy Deputy Fire Chief Brian Bagley said crews discovered the building’s sprinkler system was not working and there was no water pressure at the faucets on the property. A fire official said he found little or no water flowing through both systems.
Firefighters had to try connecting to the city’s hydrants instead. The building was engulfed in fire within 40 minutes, Bagley said.
“We took a defensive approach at that point,” he said.
The facility was evacuated and no one was injured in the incident. The massive warehouse was one of more than 50 distribution centers nationwide for Medline, which sells bandages, wheelchairs, catheters, hospital beds and many other medical supplies, according to its online catalogue.
It’s unclear exactly what was stored at the Tracy facility, but the company said in a statement that the warehouse primarily serves Northern California hospitals and put an emergency plan in place following the fire.
“Product distribution previously supported by the Tracy facility has been reassigned and is in the process of being distributed to other facilities in our regional network to help maintain service and support customer needs,” Medline said.
The fire’s embers sparked two grass fires and set fire to pallets and several large trucks at a nearby FedEx facility. Fire crews managed to extinguish these fires.
Crews had to fight new fires throughout the night in trailers loaded with materials.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will help investigate the cause of the fire, but authorities likely won’t be able to enter the warehouse for at least another few days, Bagley said. Bagley said the sprinkler system was tested by an outside company in January and no problems were found.
The warehouse is located in a massive industrial park that also houses fulfillment and distribution centers for Amazon, Home Depot, and FedEx.
No houses were evacuated. Bagley recommended people near the fire stay indoors but said air quality tests did not raise any “serious concerns.”
