July 20, 2003
Department Press Release
After nearly 48 hours of continuous work and fire watch at the Airgas facility located at 3011 Academy Way, firefighters turned the property back to the management for continued cleanup.
Airgas suffered a four-alarm fire Friday afternoon at 4:25 p.m. that was both very dangerous and spectacular with hundreds of compressed air cylinders either exploding or venting off their contents, some adding to the fire. Included in that total were two liquid petroleum tanks that ruptured, sending pieces through another business located over 300 yards form the origin of the fire.
Firefighters worked during the daylight hours with Airgas personnel to triage the hundreds of other cylinders that had been damaged by the fire, struck by other cylinders or exploded.
At night firefighters were placed on fire watch vigil to insure any fire restarted from the residual heat or hidden embers were quickly snuffed out. There was one minor fire on the morning of July 19 that started near one of the truck tires. It was quickly extinguished. Many of the cylinders had popped their safety devices allowing the gases within to escape preventing many from exploding. Airgas lost 12 delivery truck vehicles in the blaze. During one of the violent explosions their office building roof was blown off and sat back down on the building severely damaging many of the large glu-lam beams that support the roof.
City of Sacramento Building Officials were able to arrange resources for Airgas to shore up the structure to allow employees to gain access of records and equipment. There was no one hurt in the fire. The cause of the fire is undetermined but we cannot rule out an accidental release of a flammable product which found an ignition source.
Damage is now estimated at $2,500,000.00 which includes the Airgas losses and another building which was partially destroyed by fire near the end of the battle at 1651 Juliesse Avenue. A possible cause of that fire has been identified as burning debris flying in through the roof.
We wish to thank the Fire Fighters who battled this blaze, worked hard over the past two days to assist in the cleanup. This fire had great potential to take the lives of those battling it and to extinguish this fire without an injury to anyone is truly heroic.
To get this business back from the ashes so they can open for business on Monday, July 21, 2003, is a true collaborative effort. The cooperation by not only Airgas personnel and management but also from many other agencies has been outstanding. Some of these agencies include both the City and County of Sacramento to insure that every part of the cleanup and recovery was to code and safety a top concern.
Incident Commander: Battalion Chief Ed Bassett
First-In District: 20
First-In Company: Engine 20
Cause: Undetermined
Public Information Officer: Captain Dave Whitt
Evacuations: 100
Time To Control: 2 hours
Incident Duration: 47 hours
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