Broken hydrants, hot plastic made GE fire worse

Fire investigators have blamed the total loss of a General Electric warehouse on outdated Appliance Park equipment that failed when fire crews rushed to the scene April 3.

An insurance company engineer foretold the devastation more than a year ago, warning that a blaze stoked by hot-burning plastic appliance parts could rage out of control and overwhelm Building 6's 1950s-era sprinklers and the park's antiquated water pumps and lines, according to the investigation report by Louisville Metro's Arson squad.

"Everything that could go wrong went wrong that day," Maj. Henry Ott, the lead investigator for arson squad, said.

As it happened, when flames were first seen in the warehouse leased by a GE parts vendor early Good Friday morning, sprinklers and alarms didn't activate properly, and fire crews found most GE hydrants were inoperable.

Water pressure from the single pump firefighters hooked to plunged suddenly, forcing crews to extend water lines far off the complex. All told, the poor water supply hampered firefighters' efforts to battle the blaze, the report said.

Authorities quickly ruled out arson and listed the cause as "undetermined." But they believe either an electrical short or lightning seen in the area that morning may have been the spark. No one was injured, but the blaze ranks as county's largest structure fire and took a huge financial toll on the appliance maker.

GE officials contradicted the Arson squad's report in a statement released Tuesday night. They asserted that "there was nothing that could have been done to save the building despite the efforts of firefighters and GE employees."

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They defended the fire suppression equipment at the property and said the arson report contained "several key factual errors."

They had already begun on a multiyear plan to upgrade fire suppression and safety systems at the park — and that they expect to complete $11 million in upgrades by the end of this year.

They also plan an additional $20 million in improvements over the next four to five years.

At the scene of the fire that morning, after 9 inches of rain had fallen across Louisville, flames shot from the warehouse leased by Derby Supply Chain Solutions and rained debris for miles.

Residents nearby were ordered to shelter in place for a few hours as a precaution against massive plumes of black smoke.

It took several hours to knock down the fire but crews spent the next week extinguishing hot spots. Because of the operation, GE was forced to cancel production at the park for a week and paid more than 2,400 claims totaling $500,000 to neighbors to clean decks, roofs and vehicles.

Lawsuits filed by a neighbor and a cleanup contractor, Hunter and Associates Construction Co., are pending.

GE's insurer, FM Global, has already settled millions of dollars in separate claims with companies that had parts and equipment inside the building. Investigators estimated the fire loss at $110 million, $50 million for the warehouse building and $60 million for all contents.

According to fire investigators' report, Derby employees recounted arriving early Good Friday for a low-key shift and seeing numerous water puddles on the floor after intense overnight thunderstorms. Tarps often were used around the warehouse because of numerous roof leaks, Derby workers told investigators, the report said.

Fork lift operator Mike Eagan was unloading a truck when he turned and saw the fire near the south end of the building, up in the racks. He yelled "Fire! Fire! Fire!" over a radio to alert others.

Thirteen employees interviewed by the arson squad saw nothing flow from sprinklers as they fled the building. GE security officer Jim Estes recalled seeing a spray of black water in another part of the warehouse that didn't reach the floor.

None heard alarms, even after Derby's Suzanne Wick pulled a wall-mounted fire alarm when leaving the warehouse, the report said.

Some workers in the office building attached to the warehouse were alerted about the blaze by employees phoning them from outside. The workers who got up and left told investigators of hearing hums and faint beeps from the alarms while heading for the doors.

Firefighters with Jeffersontown and Okolona who arrived first quickly encountered problems getting water on fast-spreading flames and crew were ordered to evacuate from the warehouse. Nine minutes after that order, part of the warehouse collapsed.

Fern Creek chief Michael Schmidt described the weak streams spraying from another department's line as similar to "an old man with a serious prostate problem."

Lack of water supply "played a significant role in their inability to control and extinguish the fire," the report added.

Investigators learned later that GE had replaced four pumps at the park's north end to improve water service at its insurer's recommendation, but the equipment wasn't yet operable.

When GE employees turned on four original pumps at the south end of the complex, three malfunctioned, leaving only one to force water to the scene. That did little to help as fire crews watched the blaze continue to spread, the report said.

GE's insurance company had recommended starting in 2001 that GE upgrade its Mill Water operation — a system of four million-gallon tanks once used to cool manufacturing equipment that was kept around to provide fire protection.

Insurers also recommended upgrading water mains and pumps, as well as add an automatic system to boost firefighting capabilities, the report said.

Factory Mutual engineer Lisa Voelker, who typically spent six to eight weeks a year inspecting GE's buildings for the annual insurance renewal, wrote in a 2014 review that the shift to plastic from metal parts posed a risk because of its "higher heat release," three times that of ordinary combustible material, according to a summary of Voekler's notes by investigators.

She concluded that the hotter-burning parts "could cause a large uncontrolled fire and the sprinklers were not designed to protect that type of occupancy."

Ott was surprised that Voelker's warning played out so accurately. In fact, he said, "the Factory Mutual Report pretty much predicted what was going to happen if there was a fire."

GE spokewoman Kim Freeman's statement said that the company is reviewing the report, but that sprinklers were in working order and did activate when the fire broke out.

Her statement said that pumps provided water to firefighting hoses and other apparatus at the scene.

"Even with the sprinklers working at the time of the fire, the intensity of it forced firefighters to evacuate the building within five minutes" of entering the building, according to the statement.

"GE is committed to making our workplace safe. This is part of our annual safety review process. For example, in 2011, we committed to a major project to invest in fire prevention and protection, including sprinklers, alarms, piping and a new pumping system that was in progress before the April 3 fire," the statement said.

"Despite delays from the fire and investigation, we are back on track and will have spent $11 million of the 2011 plan by the end of the year. And GE will continue our investments in fire protection in 2016 and beyond."

Reporter Grace Schneider can be reached at 502-582-4082. Follow her on Twitter @gesinfk.